Survivalist
by supersandman86
Summary: Kicked out of the village by his own, young Hiccup starts a new life in the cove where upon he learns to survive using the strongest weapon he has...his mind. Hiccstrid later on. Set 4 year before the first movie when Hiccup is at the age of ten. Rated T for now but will be warned of M rates on chapters as we go along.
1. Chapter 1- A new home

**Hi lads and lasses supersandman86 back to give you a new story i had been thinking of for a long time , now most of you are thinking that I've abandoned something stupid, something crazy, and i can assure you i will get back to that. But this goes out to Nightstar Fury for inspiring me to put this up, you should check out their work on their page, Its very mind blowing in my opinion.**

 **The survivalist**

 **Chapter 1- A new home**

"He's a menace!"

"He can't do anything right!"

"Every time he steps out, disaster follows!"

"He should be made to stay inside at all times"

"He should not be allowed near anything"

These were the things the young auburn haired Hiccup had to listen to.

All his life he had to endure what many adult don't get through most of their lifetime.

And here he was, ten years old and already the village despise his existence.

Hiccup had to endure this every time something happened and he got the blame for it.

Some times it was his fault, but purely by accident as his own inventions backfired on him.

And the rest of the time, like this time, was due to someone messing about with one of his own inventions or causing damage and blaming Hiccup for it.

He was their scapegoat.

Hiccup knew why the forge caught fire, he caught Snotlout and the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut messing about with the forge as they pretended to be blacksmiths, only them to cause the molten iron inside to overflow and his the wooden table next to it, which set off the blazing inferno around the building.

But unfortunately for Hiccup, no one ever believed him or even listened, all except the blacksmith himself, Gobber, who was not only a mentor to the young boy, but also a second father to him too.

But he was one voice out of the hundreds that believed him and it hurt him to think that no one else even liked him and made sure that they made their feelings well known.

The worst part was the look his father, Stoick 'the vast' Haddock, chief of the hairy hooligan tribe and Berk itself, who like his name and title, is huge even for a Viking and could scare the life out of any human or dragon that get him mad.

But for Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third, he got the worst of his fathers emotions.

Disappointment.

No matter how hard Hiccup tried, he could never please Stoick at all. And that hurt worse than the village combined.

"D-dad I d-didn't do..." Hiccup stuttered as he tried to explain that it wasn't that set the forge alight, but was cut of by his fathers booming voice.

"Enough Hiccup!" Stoick shouts startling not only his son but the village too as he carried on.

"This is another one of your messes I have to clean up after! We're lucky it never spread to the rest of the village! Would you want that on your conscious?!"

This hurt the small boy even more, not only did his father not listen to him but, in front of the whole village, tried to make him even more guilty.

He just wished his father would listen.

But before either could get in another word, a familiar croaked voice made its way through the crowd towards the front.

"He will never learn Stoick, he will only get worse as he gets older!" Mildew, one the villagers oldest residence, besides Gothi, the villagers healer and seer, but unlike her, Mildew has a tenancy to rial up the village whenever he felt like it.

Just like now.

"You all agree that we must do something before it get worse the next time?!" he shout as many of the villager all shout their approval.

At this point, Gobber stepped in front of Hiccup, protecting him from any who try to harm him.

"And what in prey tell do ya mean by that ya cranky old goat?" he said angrily not liking where this was going.

"It's very simple Gobber, we kick him out of the village, if he can't be here then there will be no more disasters" Mildew simply put it as he looks at the crowd who were shouting and yelling for Hiccup to be kicked out, including the teens.

Minus Fishlegs who cowardly hid behind his family, not wanting to be part of this.

And Astrid who stood there but ignored Hiccups pleading look he was giving.

Hiccup at this point wasn't just scared, he was terrified that the village he grew up in, the people of the same tribe who swore to look out for one another, are willing to throw him out so easily like that.

By this point, Stoick had just about enough of the shouting and yelling as he boomed his voice once more to silence the crowd.

"Enough!" he looks around to see that everyone had shut up as he carried on.

"If this is a decision that you all want to go through, then we must put it to a vote here and now" he looks around again.

"All those in favor, of keeping Hiccup in the village, raise your hands"

Disastrously, only a few people put their hands up. Gobber, Gothi and, surprisingly, the Ingermans.

Now Stoick was skeptical in asking the next bit, but he had no choice as he took a deep breath.

"All those who want him out...raise your hands"

A sea of hands, raised by their owners, was Stoick feared just a second ago as most of the village wanted his son out.

Hiccup saw this all, he couldn't move, he couldn't speak, his heart was pounding like mad, he feared he would have a heart attack there and then as his eyes filled with tears as his brain finally registered what that meant for him as he looked up pleadingly at his father.

Stoick however only sighed as he turned and looked seriously at his son.

"It is settled then, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third, you are hereby, from this day forward...banished from the village of Berk!" he then looked away from him as he looked at the crowd once again "he will need to be escorted far away from the village, I will need a volunteer to do so"

Mildew was about to volunteer for the sheer pleasure of it but was cut short as Gobber got there first.

"I will take him!"

Everyone looked towards the blacksmith, thinking he gone mad as Mildew protested about it.

"No! Why should our only blacksmith go out and take this runt?!" but as he said that he was forced backwards by a hook coming towards him, followed by the face of an angry Gobber.

"Because ya horrible old git! For two reason! One I don't trust any of you lot to safely escort him away! And two I'm the only one here that cares for the boy to find him a safe place to live the rest of his life!" Gobber then turn his head sharply towards the villagers before speaking again.

"And if you deny me this or try and go finding Hiccup when he's gone so you can hurt him, then not only will I refuse to fix or make any more weapons again, I will leave the village myself! Yer got me?!" he watched as all the villager quickly nodded their heads as they allow before heading back to the still petrified boy as he gently escorted him to the house.

But not before giving Stoick a glare that even stunned him.

 **At the Haddock hall**

Gobber opened the door, shoving Hiccup through it and up the stairs towards his room.

Hiccup managed to recover from his stunned position as he came to realize that this was for real.

He was kicked out of the village, he was homeless.

It was at this point that the young boy started to tear up again.

But instead of being left to stand there and fight back the tears, he was engulfed in a bone-crushing hug from Gobber.

Hiccup could feel the squeeze easily but he didn't care as he burst into tears on Gobber's shoulder, to which the old blacksmith let him.

"There there lad, let it all out" he said calmly as Hiccup cried even more as he tried to speak.

"I-I d-d-din't do it Gobber, I-I really d-din't" he said, stuttering each time.

Gobber could only smile "I know lad, I know ya didn' do it"

Hiccup remove his head from Gobber's shoulder as he looked up at him, eyes red from the crying.

"H-how can you k-know Gobber?"

Again Gobber smiled again as he put his real hand upon Hiccups head.

"Because ya never do the same mistake twice lad, ya did it when you were younger and still learning the ropes, that's how I know ya didn' do it"

Hiccup just kept staring at Gobber, he couldn't believe one person actually believed he didn't do it, and from that he did something that he thought he'd ever do again.

He smiled, a small smile but a smile nonetheless.

But as quickly as it came, his smile was gone as he realized he had to get packing, so sadly grabbed his rucksack from his closet and proceeded to start packing all of his things he would need to survive out there.

Clothes, blankets, spare furs and most importantly, to hiccup anyway, several sketchbooks and charcoals sticks.

He always love to draw and if was going to be alone, he might as well have something to keep him sane, or until he was killed by something, whichever way.

As he finished packing he went downstairs to Gobber who was standing there with a bag of his own.

As they both stared at each other, a long agreeable silence fell upon them as they headed out of the door and towards the edge of the village to the forest.

They looked up as they exited where the sun was high in the sky indicating it to around midday before setting off through the village.

As they were walking they could hear cheering and music and people genuinely having fun, Hiccup and Gobber knew why and neither didn't like it, so sped off into the forest till the sound died away from their ears.

All that time they were walking, Hiccup kept looking back, hoping that his father would come running to embrace him and make the villager take him back, but after an hour of walking, he gave up.

No one was coming back for him.

And so silently accepted his fate as he trudged along as he followed Gobber deeper and deeper into the forest.

He wanted to ask where they were going but thought better of it as he didn't want to make Gobber angry and lose him as well so kept it to himself.

But after a short while later, Gobber did finally stop as he came to an slope, leading to an opening before he gestured Hiccup to follow him, to which the boy did, slowly as he went down the steep slope, careful not to slip.

As he walked through the dark opening, he was rewarded by a sight he thought only could be seen in Asgard itself.

It was a cove of such beauty, green grass growing in all places, rocks that lay untouched by man ever, but the most beautiful thing Hiccup couldn't take his eyes off was the waterfall and lake.

So blue and yet crystal clear with life swimming freely as they jump from the water fall into the water below.

Hiccup, to say the least, was mesmerized by the whole thing before looking at a smiling Gobber who gestured a nearby cave hidden in the side of the cove itself.

"This is yer new home lad"

Hiccup was about to ask where he found such a place before Gobber cut him off, knowing what he was about to say.

"Found it years ago on one of my travels around the forest, came across it by accident when I fell into it" Gobber chuckled as he remembered landing face first into the lake itself. In truth he wanted to bring Hiccup here and show him a beauty to which to draw, but seeing the situation now, the one thing the boy needed was an amazing place like this to call home.

Gobber then decided to get Hiccup set up with shelter and a warm fire for when the night time came.

He hobbled over to the cave entrance as he unloaded the bag he was carrying which contained some flint, enough bread to last for at least a week and extra cloths in case Hiccup got cold in the middle of the night.

 **An Hour Later**

After the fire had been lit and the cave was comfortable enough to use until something can be sorted at a later date, he unfortunately had to say his farewell to the boy he had treated like a son.

"Well lad, this is it, I gotta head back to the village before nightfall, as per the agreement of escort ya"

He saw straight away that Hiccup wanted to protest, wanted him to stay, but Hiccup knew he had no choice, even at his young age he knew this was his life from now on, to live in exile. Gobber was scared for the boy but he also knew Hiccup was very resourceful when he put his mind to it.

Gobber knew what he had to do.

He went through his bag, pulling out several large books as he hobbled over to the depressed boy sitting next to the fire as he gently laid them down next to him, making Hiccup look at them curiously before looking up at Gobber.

"These book you will find a very interesting read, but the most important I want ya to read Hiccup is this one" he picked up the book and placed it in Hiccups hand.

Hiccup looked down at the books title that read "A guide to survival" he said out loud as he looked down at the author "By Hector Valhallarama?" Hiccup looked confused, it was like he knew that name from somewhere. But from where?

Gobber smiled knowing Hiccup was trying to wonder who he was.

"Tha' would be the name of a man who also went by 'Old Wrinkly' ya maternal grandfather"

Hiccup's head shot up at what Gobber said, this was his grandfathers book? His mother's father's book?

"B-but what are you doing with it Gobber?" he asked as he wanted to find out more.

Gobber merely chuckle as he walk to the cave entrance "ya grandfather entrusted it with me, stating that the more knowledge is kept safe, the better the future shall be, ya mother knew about the book too and told me that when if the time ever came ta pass it along to you"

"But why didn't she entrust it to my dad?"

Gobber at this just rolled his eyes "ta Hiccup, Valka knew ya father would use it on ya before it was needed and at that point she was still pissed fer him asking to make you an axe when ye were born"

Gobber then looked serious at Hiccup before he left the cave "read that book lad, it'll be the one thing that will help ye survive on ye own" and with that, hobbled over to the young Hiccup before giving him on last hug as he whispered into his ear.

"Stay alive fer me Hiccup please, I'll be back in a week" and with that leaving the cave and the cove as Hiccup watch him go from the cave entrance before looking around as he sighed to himself.

"Welcome to my new life"


	2. Chapter 2- Coming to terms

**Okay wow, my inbox exploded with so many likes to the first chapter that i nearly missed an offer from amazon for a new iron maiden calendar. In honesty i didn't think it would get this sort of response but i'm glad it did, now i'm a bit iffy with this one as you'll see when you read it along. But just to remind you that many people deal with problems very differently , some could come to terms with everything very fast, some takes ages, Hiccup is no exception. He's a very smart kid. Anyway enjoy.**

 **Chapter 2- Coming to terms**

Hiccup sat on the furs inside the cave as he recollected what transpired today.

He was blamed for something he didn't do.

No one besides Gobber didn't even listen to him.

Then they voted to kick him out of the village before going off to celebrate.

As he recollected the whole event in his head over and over again, he could help but cry, he knows Vikings shouldn't cry, but no one ever believed he was a Viking.

And if Hiccup was being honest, he never believed he was one either.

So here was young Hiccup, crying his eyes out as he laid there as the night fell and the one light for miles around was from the fire in the cave that was slowly dying out.

But Hiccup didn't care at that point.

What was the point in him living in the first place?

So he could get punished for being a runt?

So that his former friends could use him as a punching bag and a scapegoat whenever they got in trouble?

Would it have killed them to showed a little kindness to him?

It was at that moment that he realized something, I little thought popped into his head that grew the more he thought about it.

What did he exactly do to endure their hatred?

Even though his body has very little muscle to count for strength, one muscle in little Hiccup is the strongest out of all of the Hairy Hooligans combined.

His brain.

He remembers when it all start back when he was five winters old.

He was ignored by the adults but he had his friends, they went on adventures together, played games, he was happy.

Then it suddenly changed, Astrid avoided him, his cousin Snotlout bullied him, the twins pull horrible pranks on him and Fishlegs was to scared to stand up to them so joined them.

And what caused them to do that to him?

"Nothing" was the only word Hiccup said as he sat up, no longer crying, no sadness.

All what was there was understanding and anger.

"I-I did absolutely nothing to make them angry at me!" he shouted.

He then stood up and ran outside into the darkness, grabbing hold of the axe Gobber left behind and, from the top of his lungs, screamed into the night sky as loud as he could before throwing the axe into a nearby tree as hard as he could.

Finally, after several minutes of pent up anger coming out in bursts of screams and rage, he cursed at the gods in the sky.

"Damn you Odin you son of a bitch! What did I do to deserve all this?! You find it amusing?! Well I fucking don't! I would expect this from your own son Loki, but not from you!"

He eventually fell upon his knees in exhaustion, taking in deep shallow breaths, calming himself down.

But after all the sadness and anger was released in one go, he felt different, he felt like a weight was taken off his shoulders.

He come to realize that there must have been a reason he lived this long.

From what Gobber told him about every single Hiccup that ever came before him, none lived past the age of their fifth winter. They either died from poor health due to their sized, killed when they were born by their fathers or took their own lives because the pressure and torment was too much for them.

Even he thought about taking that path at one point, he attempted to end it all by slitting his wrists and slowly bled out but as he slit one wrist, thinking about his mother, he come to realize she wouldn't want him to do that, and to fight on, so bandaged up his wrist to stop the bleeding, he won't take the easy road out.

As Hiccup remembered that he looked down at his wrist where the white scar was.

He was not going to give up on his life then and he won't now.

But this time, he didn't have to impress anyone but himself.

He stood back up with a look of determination as he looked up at the sky again as he spoke.

But not to the gods.

But to his mother.

"I swear mom, I will not give up so easily, I will break the accursed chain of failing Hiccups before me and become the strongest out of the lot!" he then looked down as he came to realize something else.

How would he survive?

Suddenly a thought came into his head, something Gobber told him to do before he left.

Read the book.

So as fast as his legs could carry him, he ran back into the dimly lit cave as he threw some more wood on to the fire, causing the fading flames to jump back to life, causing the interior of the cave to brighten back up.

He spotted the book in question next to the furs he had been on a few minutes before, sitting down next to it as he pulled it closer to him before opening the first page.

It was mainly blank, with only one sentence in the middle of the page.

 _For those who feel at loss and want to survive._

Hiccup only stared at the words over and over again, it was like the writer knew what he wanted.

To survive.

He turn to the next page as he saw that most of the page was full of runes.

 _There are many ways in which someone can survive out in the wild._

 _Some chose the path of an animal, using their their main senses such as sight, hearing and smell in their surroundings._

 _Some would resort to the traditional ways I which our ancestors would get what they need, by plundering._

 _But out of these things, the number one way of surviving out in the wild, is by using your own personal strength to your own advantage._

 _Not physical strength as such, but the something that you know you're good at that makes you unique to others._

Hiccup looked up for a second as he absorbed what was written down.

"My own personal strength" he said to himself over and over again as he thought about what his personal strength was.

It was then he rolled his eyes as he completely forgot what he said earlier about his one powerful muscle in his body.

His brain.

He was smart enough to come up with several ways at once on just one particular thing. Writing down its strengths and weaknesses before choosing the best method for the job.

With his brain he could invent thing that would benefit anyone in the long run.

He had so many ideas he could go by, but because of the villagers disapproval of them he could never do them.

But from that he smirked as he realized, he was no longer in the village.

He had no one to tell him what to do.

He had no one to be disappointed in him.

And most importantly, he had no one around him that could ruin his ideas.

He was free to create.

And create he shall.

With that in mind he looked down at the book as he started to read more into it.

From which weapons would be suitable for different body structures to upgrading your shelter bit by bit.

But before long, Hiccup was feeling tired, it had been a long day and night with all that had happened.

But as he spent most of his nights back in the village in a restless sleep worrying about the next day, here seemed different.

He was at first scared because he was alone, but now after realizing how much he wasn't accepted among his own people, he kind of liked the peacefulness of the cove.

No worries about anyone beating him up or calling him a runt.

No one to hate him for his inventions or how he thought differently to the others.

And with that in mind he was able to have the most peaceful sleep he ever had in years.

 **One week later back at the village**

The villagers were still in high spirits at what they did, getting rid of Hiccup. Without the runt to cause chaos wherever he went, everything would run smoothly.

Or so they thought.

"Come on Gobber hurry up!" came yelling from the forge.

"I'm going as fast as I can, in case ya haven' noticed, got one hand thank you!" Gobber retorts angrily back at an frustrated Spitelout Jorgenson who is waiting for his new hammer to be done.

"it's never taken you this long to make a weapon?!" Spitelout shouts back folding his arms impatiently.

It was then at this point that Gobber slammed the hammer onto the table before turning towards the head of the Jorgenson clan, glaring at him angrily making even Spitelout back away.

"Now ya listen here ya moron! The reason I even get through half my work on time, was because of the boy yew all wanted rid of! So you can either accept that and wait fer it to be done at my own time, or ya can piss off and make it yerself!" and with that, he picked up the hammer and threw it in Spitlouts direction, narrowly missing him as it lodges itself into the wall behind.

At this point Spitelout was smart enough to know that this was a good time to leave as he rushes out of the door nearly bumping into the Stoick along the way.

Stoick knew straight away what had happened and sighed as he entered the forge as Gobber removed the hammer, leaving a hole in the wall where it hit before getting back to his desk to finishing it off.

"Gobber you know ya can't keep lashing out of people like that" Stoick said as he walked cautiously up to his old friend, but not too close knowing Gobbers still mad at him.

Gobber never looks at him as he carries on pound the head of the hammer into shape as he simply grunts.

Stoick sighs once more, this was going to be hard for Gobber to forgive so easily, but he had to try.

"Look Gobber, I know what I did was wrong..."

"...ya got that right" Gobber mumbled, cutting Stoick off until he pinched the bridge of his nose and carried on.

"...but I had no choice, you know if I didn't the villagers would have done something about it"

At this point Gobber stopped his pounding as he sighed but didn't look at the chief.

"I know, but ya could have stood up for ya own son, you could have done something else, ya could have grounded him, or told him to repair the forge, anything! But banishment?" Gobber retorted.

"I had to think what was best for the village, a chief protects his own, even if meant losing my only child to protect the others" Stoick replied back but from tone in his voice, he wasn't convincing himself.

"An' there's ya problem, Stoick, ya protect all the other villagers, ya listen to them! But never have ya listened to Hiccup, ya didn' even give him a chance to hear his side of the story" It was at this point Gobber turned around as he looked at Stoick directly in the eyes before carrying on.

"Ya know what the boy told me? He didn' do it. I saw the truth in his eyes. But I didn't even need to look into them ta know he didn' do it" Stoick furrowed his brow at what Gobber said.

"How can you know?"

Gobber merely rolled his eyes as he gestured for Stoick to sit down as he did too.

"You remember a few years ago when Hiccup accidentally set the forge on fire?" Stoicked nodded as Gobber carried on "well if did know ya son better, you would know he never makes the same mistake twice!" Gobber sighs as he watches Stoick sit there, thinking about what he said.

"So if Hiccup didn't do it, then who did?" Stoick mumbled to himself as Gobber stood up again as he was moving things about in a bag, but he heard the questioning very easily.

"Most likely one of the ones that bullied him when ya weren't looking, but it's too late now, the village wanted him out, they voted and you made it official in front of them" he bows his head in sadness as he carries on "I just hope the poor lad is okay, It's been a week since I saw him and I'm worried he would do something crazy"

At this Stoick shot his head up as a look of worry spread across his face.

"What do you mean?"

Again Gobber looked at the chief with sadness.

"Stoick ya know that a Hiccup never lives very long in their lives, ill health, killed by someone or something, or when the pressure of bullying gets to them, self harm and even death. The fact Hiccup managed to survive this long is no mere coincidence but even the most toughest of Vikings would chose ta end their own life after something like this!"

At this Stoick looked down as he place his over large hand over his face.

Would his own son kill himself because of one stupid decision?

He would never know, he didn't spend a good amount of time to know who is son really is and thanks to him not defending him, he may never get to find out.

Gobber at this point started to feel pity for him, he knew the truth would be hard to swallow, so his hobbled over and patted him on the shoulder with his remaining hand.

"The truth is harsh but it needed to be said, now if ya don' mind watching the forge for a bit, I need to check up on Hiccup to see if he is okay" Stoick merely nodded but as Gobber was about to leave, Stoick grabs hold of his arm to get his attention.

"Wh-when you do see him, can you tell him, I'm so sorry for everything" Gobber smiled before nodding as he set off through the village towards the forest and to Hiccup.

As he walked through the village, he was disgusted as so many villagers were still happy and didn't even bother to hide it in front of him.

They really would do that to a ten year old boy?

All he could do was ignore them had he hobbled faster towards the edge of the village, not looking anyone in the eyes.

He just hoped and prayed that Hiccup was okay.

 **An hour later at the cove**

Because of his fast pacing to get to the cove and see Hiccup, Gobber made there in record time.

But when he got down the slope into the cove itself he couldn't believe his eyes.

He could see Hiccup but what he saw was dozens upon dozens of sketches of all sort scattered around the cave entrance, rocks and grooves in the dirt that looked like markers for something to be put at particular places.

As he looked around, he saw several pieces of logs and rocks that weren't there the last time he checked, as he wondered how they all got here, he accidentally put his peg leg onto one of the dirt lines before getting a shock as a voice came shout out from one of the nearby trees.

"Hey watch it there Gobber!" Gobber looked to where the voice came from as the familiar form of Hiccup came rushing over as he checked that nothing was disturbed "took me ages to get that right" Hiccup looked up as he smiled at his former mentor.

Gobber to say the least was shocked, he expected Hiccup to be a complete wreck or worse. This was the complete opposite, Hiccup showed an air of confidence and determination.

"H-hiccup?" Gobber stuttered as Hiccup nodded while smiling as he started to gesture to what he had done.

"What you think?" Hiccup asked as Gobber was still shocked.

"Are ya, okay lad?" Gobber asked as Hiccup looked at him.

Hiccup still kept smiling as he shrugged his shoulders before reply.

"Yeah as far as I'm aware"

Gobber raised an eyebrow, confused by all this.

"Bu-but I thought you'd be..."

"...depressed?" Hiccup said cutting Gobber off mid-sentence as he carried on "I was at first, but as I thought about what I actually did wrong to deserve any of the others hatred, I realized I did nothing, soon my sadness turned to anger and finally acceptance, now I'm out here on my own, there's no one to judge me and I can do what want in order to survive" he explained without stuttering once.

To say Gobber was impressed at the boy strong will was an understatement, no one could recover from something like that in a such a short time.

"Now don't get me wrong" Hiccup carried on "it still hurts what they did to me and the whole ordeal, but I'm not going to let it get to me"

Gobber recovered from his shock as he saw the boys physical appearance.

He looked a little rough, a few scrapes and bruises here and there, his over large green tunic had a few rips and was dirty, Gobber used to see Hiccup like this when he walked into the forge, but the difference now is, instead of a depressing frown, there was a genuine smile, like he worked hard to get what he wanted to do no matter what hit him.

It was something Gobber always wanted to see on the boys face, the countless times Hiccup stopped him from going out and kicking the living shit out of the other kids for doing that to his apprentice because of the sadness in the young boys eyes.

But to see him now still batter and bruised but happy, Gobber couldn't help but smile.

Now he no longer needed to worry for the time being, he was now curious as to what Hiccup was planning with these markers.

Hiccup however beat him to the punch as he saw Gobber looking at them and knew what he wanted to know, he knew his mentor too well.

"I know what you're going to ask Gobber, what with the markers am I correct?" Gobber raised an eyebrow before slowly nodding earning a chuckle from the young boy.

"Well the largest set of markers over there" he said pointing to the cave entrance as he carried on "is where the foundation of the house I'll eventually build will be, connecting up to the cave" he then pointed to another set of markers that was slightly smaller than the other and looked like it connected with it "this one you might like Gobber and for that I could use your help with if you don't mind please"

Gobber looked at the boy, something he'd like and Hiccup needed help with.

Gobber smiled as he had a feeling what Hiccup was asking for but gestured for him to carry on asking.

With a glint in his and a smile to go with it as he looks up at his father figure with determination.

"I want to build a forge"


	3. Chapter 3- Knowing the truth

**Wow i can believe how many of you loved this story, i guess we all like to see Hiccup as a bad arsed survivalist. Now most of you will wonder about the names of Astrid parents but i can say they are Norse names, even if i had to google it. But hope you enjoy this one as you did the other two.**

 **Chapter 3-Knowing the truth**

"Hello?" an echo could be heard throughout the heavily wooded area as young Astrid Hofferson, Berks future shield-maiden, trudges on through shouting for some response.

She didn't know how she got here, she could have sworn she was at home in her bed, but now she seemed to be in this forest that was slowly getting darker and darker.

But was she scared? No.

Was she being honest? Not even close.

She was petrified, here she was ten years old in an eerily dark forest with no one for miles, no sign of life, not even the tweeting of birds.

Not even a dragon roar.

Just darkness and silence that was driving her mad.

"Hello?" she shouted once again with a little fear in her voice.

But why should she show fear? She's fearless Astrid Hofferson for Thor's sake, she did not show fear, she caused it.

So why was she afraid?

While she was contemplating on why, she didn't notice a dark silhouette upon the forest floor until it was too late as she fell over it and hit the floor herself.

Angry at what tripped her up, she turned her head towards what tripped her only to come across some that not only shocked and scared her, but down right make her sick to her stomach.

The dark silhouette on the ground turned out to be a body, but this body wasn't like anything she ever saw before.

For one thing, it had no head, by the looks of it had be cut clean off leaving only a trail of blood that went away from the rest of the body.

The body itself had been disemboweled like a knife or set of razor sharp claws has ripped open the stomach and pulled out the entire contents, leaving them to rot on the ground.

Deep claw marks surrounded every single part of the bodies limbs as they lay limp in a bloody pool of crimson red.

She wanted to look away but she couldn't, all she could see was that image stuck with her no matter what she did.

What scared her the most was even though the body itself was mangled to hell, it seemed familiar to her.

Maybe it was the small scrawny frame.

Maybe it was the blood and tatter over large tunic that showed a hint of familiar green.

She didn't know what to think, for some strange reason, she needed to find the head.

She didn't know why, but she had to.

Following the bloody trail that came from the open neck where the head used to be, she slowly and hesitantly walked for several yards, keeping her guard up in case whatever did that horrific crime was still around.

She wouldn't go down without a fight.

Closer and closer she walked and the more the spine chilling feeling grew until she saw the small dark shape on the floor where the trail was leading her to.

She lifted her axe from its strap across her back as she used the head to carefully shift the head so she could see the face.

But as soon as she did, she dropped her axe and began to scream loudly as her whole body, from head to toe, went ghostly pale.

The head belonged to non other than Hiccup, the messy auburn hair lay limp and lifeless, the skin around his face was grey and showing signs of decomposing as his lifeless eye laid open in shock, more due to what had killed him in the first place as they laid there staring back at the screaming Astrid, piercing her very soul.

As she slowed down her screaming to a whimper, what happened next made her scream even more.

The head began to speak.

"Astrid..."

She started to hyperventilate as tears came streaming down her face.

"Astrid..."

She didn't want to be there, she wanted to be home, with her family and friends, she didn't want to see this.

"Astrid, Astrid wake up!"

Suddenly Astrid closed her eyes and when she opened them up again she was in her bed as her mother was shaking her awake, panic in her eyes, feeling a cold sweat all over her body and tear stains down her cheeks.

She realized what it was, a nightmare, but why did it feel real.

"Astrid dear are you okay?"

Astrid could only look at her mother before embracing her as she cried again, at this point she didn't give a damn if it was unviking like, she was in her home where no one could see her.

Her mother, Hella Hofferson, knew all too well what got her daughter into this state, it's been happening a few weeks now since Hiccup was kicked out of the village, to which she shamefully didn't do anything to prevent it, neither did she or her husband, Agusto, vote for him to be kicked out.

Even they, being a proud family of warriors, couldn't find it in their heart to banish a ten year old for something that might have been an accident.

But what's done is done and they thanked Thor every day that it wasn't their own daughter, who right now was in her mothers arms, trying to calm down.

"Another nightmare?" Hella asked her softly to which Astrid replied with a short nod, Hella simple sighed as she knew what it was about.

"Astrid, dear, just go and ask Gobber about Hiccup, at least if you know how he is then you can be at peace" it was at this point Astrid looked up at her mother with concern.

"But w-what if he's..." she didn't get to finished as Hella hush her before she could.

"If he had been then Gobber wouldn't be this happy then I ever saw him"

It was true, the first week, Gobber was pissed off with the whole village, even wanting to take Spitelouts head clean off, not that she would have minded, the Hoffersons and Jorgenson have never gotten along.

But with Gobber, after he went to visit Hiccup the first week, he came back with a genuine smile on his face so she would have to guess that the boys doing well.

But she wish that Astrid would just go and ask him, hopefully this time she would as her nightmares are getting out of hand.

Astrid meanwhile is debating in her head whether to take her mothers advice and go speak to Gobber or not, but she knew if she didn't the nightmares would only get worse.

She sighed as she thought it over, giving her mother her answer.

"I'll ask him in the morning mother"

Hella smiled as she laid Astrid down in her bed and kissed her good night as she left for her own room to sleep.

Astrid however couldn't sleep, she was thinking about her nightmare.

Was there any truth to it?

Was Hiccup really in danger?

But then she remembered her mother say to her about Gobber smiling. Even Astrid knows the old blacksmith practically raised, treating him like a son.

If he was smiling, then Hiccup must be alright.

But she still wanted to know, she wanted to make sure he was safe with her own two eyes.

And now she had an idea how.

 **The next morning.**

As Astrid woke up and made her way from her home to the forge, the first thing she sees is Gobber, holding onto a piece of parchment, looking fully focus on what was on it.

So much so he never saw or heard the young future shield-maiden walk into the forge until she coughed, scaring the wits out of the blacksmith.

"Odin's great soiled underpants!" he shouts as he turns around to see a sheepish Astrid waving at him earning a dead panned look from him "don' scare the shite out of me like that again lass! I nearly had a one way ticket to Valhalla"

Astrid gave an innocent smile telling the blacksmith she didn't mean to.

"S-sorry Gobber I didn't mean to scare you"

Gobber simply rolled his eyes at the young girl.

"Meh, don' worry about it lass, it'll take more than a scare to take ol' Gobber down" he proudly says as he pounds his chest with his hook hand as he gets back to what he was doing beforehand, but still keeping his ears open "anythin' I can help you out with there Astrid?"

She nearly forgot why she wanted to come here until she spotted the parchment in Gobbers hand and the over large open sack that appeared to have a few bits of tools and stones inside of it.

"Err, can I ask what's with the sack?" she asked pointing towards it as Gobber looked too until he shrugged.

"Jus' a few things Hiccup needs fer his latest project" he said casually as he looked back at the parchment then to the sack several time "I think that's everything on his list" he said before putting the parchment in his trouser pocket as he went over to the sack to seal it up.

"Is tha' all ye wanted ta ask lass? If not then please spit it out before I go to meet up with the lad"

"That's wanted to ask you about!" she said with a little panic in her voice causing Gobber to stop what he was doing to look at Astrid, raising one eyebrow at her.

"Wha' ya want to know lass?"

At that moment she knew what she wanted to say, she had spent the night trying to make it sound right, but at the moment she needed to say it, she forgot how she wanted to word it.

She had to admit she was doing an un-Astrid thing.

She was nervous.

But she still needed to say it. So taking in a large gulp of air she said it in one breath.

"Iwanttoknowifhiccupsalrightbecauseihadanightmarethathewasdead!" she shouted taking in air afterwards.

Gobber, however, looked confused at what she said.

"Err lass could ya repeat that, bu' slow it down a wee notch"

Astrid sighed having to repeat herself again but she straightened herself up as she calmed her nerves.

"I just want to know if Hiccup is okay is all" she said slower with a hint of annoyance in her voice while she looked down to the ground, rubbing her right hand over her left arm.

Gobber, finally getting at what she was saying, simply shrugged.

"Oh is tha' all?" she nodded in acknowledgement as he carried on "well the lads doing okay, better than okay in fact which is the reason I'm taking these tools ta him, a few things fer his forge"

Astrid shot her head from down to look up to Gobber so fast, she was sure she'll regret that later on. But at the moment she wasn't sure if she heard him correctly.

"D-did you just say his forge?" Gobber simply nodded like it was no big deal.

"An actual forge?"

Gobber rolled his eyes as he carried on "yes, Astrid, an actual forge"

"What you built him" she carried on questioning, but was shock at the answer he gave her.

"No, what he built himself"

"B-but surely you..."

"Told him how to build one and what materials he needed ta make one as well as a few extra tools ta get them, he gathered the supplies, he laid the foundation and he built it with his own hands, I helped a bit, the lads good but he isn't tha' good" he chuckled as he finished closing his sack up and putting out the fire to the forge "well tha's the fire put out, don' want someone coming in here again ta set fire to the place again" afterwards he walked past Astrid toward the exit but stopped as head heard her say something that annoyed him.

"Well surely with Hiccup not here there will be no forge on fire"

Gobber sighed sadly and, without looking at her, spoke.

"So yew think Hiccup did it too Astrid?" he sighed again as he walked waited for Astrid to hesitantly walk out so he can close it up.

Astrid looked at Gobber with a raised eyebrow.

"But surely you can't believe him, I mean he nearly burnt down your home"

This time Gobber did turn around sharply with a glare on his face as Astrid back away, both from surprise and fear.

"An' I told ya he didn' do it!" he shouted, making a few passers-by stop in their track as they looked at him as he turned around again, walking away.

"God day miss Hofferson" and with that he was into the forest and out of sight.

Leaving a very stunned Astrid in place.

 **Over an hour later at the cove.**

It took him a little longer to get there since the weight of the sack was slowing him down, but he made it just in time to see Hiccup chopping up a few log for lighting up the forge.

Gobber was impressed by the boys skills in building.

The building of the forge itself consisted of three walls and an open one, for extra ventilation.

The whole thing itself was larger than his own back in the village, something he always wanted to do in future, but with the war with dragons, he never got time to.

The hearth and forge were made from carefully placed and perfectly cut stones thanks to Hiccups steady hands as they were positioned in the centre of the room as the large bellow stuck out through the opened wall.

The anvil itself was just a large flat rock with a piece of sheet metal on top, Gobber did offer Hiccup on of his spare ones but he insisted he'll make his own once he had enough iron, for now he was using stone tools so wouldn't need a proper one till he start metallurgy. For that he needed the pickaxe for.

He had the forge big because of his work bench and design desk, the place where the magic happens as Gobber used to put it.

The forge was at its basics but in time Hiccup could upgrade and make it bigger and better each time.

Gobber then spotted the boy putting more chopped wood in a bunker next to the forge itself, he was dirtied up, his hair was sticking up more than usual and he was only wearing his under vest instead of his green tunic and fur jacket.

"Hey muscles, go wash yaself up and put a shirt on, you don't want the lasses catching ya like this, they'll have their wicked way with ya!" Gobber chuckle as Hiccup went red with embarrassment as he rushed to the lake, dunking his head in before heading to his hung up tunic on the nearby tree and putting on before dead-panning Gobber.

"Gobber! I'm ten years old..."

"...soon eleven" Gobber added earning a glare from Hiccup.

"Even that Gobber, I'm not interested in girls, they're weird and they think I'm even weirder!"

Gobber merely rolled his eyes.

"Come on lad there must be some wee lass ya got the hots for?"

Thus made Hiccup frown as he slumped down next to the fire near his cave.

"Well yeah, there was Astrid but I knew I had no chance with her, she could do better than me"

Gobber started to frown too as he sat next to the boy patting his shoulder.

"Now don't start thinking that lad, no lass can do better than you, whereas most would want all muscle and no brains, they'll need you lad, because ya smart, gentle, a sarcastic little shit" this made both of them chuckle "but that makes you, you lad, and that's all Astrid could have had"

Hiccup had to smile "yeah your right Gobber, but she used to make my stomach feel quesy every time I thought of her or was near her, hell we used to be inseparable when we were younger, even pulling pranks on a few villagers, ranging from throwing Mildews rotting cabbage into his outhouse to stealing your left socks and blaming it on trolls"

Gobber glared at the boy before smacking him around the head with the blunt end of his hook "Ya little git! Ya made me believe that we had trolls going around the village, stealing socks when all the time it was yew little sods!"

At that Hiccup couldn't help laughing which Gobber could resist laughing as well, it was a funny prank.

It went on like this for a minute before Hiccup finally calmed down as he got his breath back and sighed, remembering what they were talking about.

"It all changed Gobber, when we were five and the Flightmare attacked, ever since her uncle froze, she was determined to gain back her families honour, even if it meant pushing me away" he looked down trying not to cry to little success as tiny drops came from his eyes as he carried on.

"I-I guess I wasn't Viking enough for her" Gobber felt sad for the boy as he held him close to his.

"Just before I was banished, I-I just wanted her to believe me that it wasn't my fault, but I saw the truth Gobber" Hiccup closed his eyes as he controlled his breathing "she didn't just like the others"

At this Gobber sighed that Hiccup knew all about this before he got a chance to say it.

"I know lad, I know, she confirmed it herself" at this Hiccup looked toward Gobber with a furrowed brow.

"What you mean confirmed?"

Gobber went on to explaining to him about Astrid turning up to the forge before he left to come here, that she was asking if he was okay and quite frankly didn't believe Hiccup could build a forge.

Hiccup merely scoffed in humour at this "more like thinking I couldn't build one without burning it to the ground" he chuckled before sighing.

"Well Gobber maybe one day she'll learn the truth, but for now I'm not going to be the one to tell her, she'll have to find out on my own" he then stood up before placing more logs onto the fire as Gobber looked at him.

"Are ya alright lad?" Hiccup merely shrugged.

"It hurts I can admit, but I've been used to this sort of pain before with her, mainly when she ignored my cry for help when Snotlout and the twins beat me up, made me feel worthless" he then looked up to the sky before looking around the cove.

"But now I'm free Gobber, no more bullying, no more negative remarks from the villagers, and no pleading for Astrid to help me, In fact pretty soon she'll forget about me like she used to do" he then smiled as he gestured Gobber to follow him to the forge wanting to show off his new designs which the old blacksmith happily hobble after.

Little did either of them know that above the cave on the edge of the cove sat the blond-haired warrior with her knees up to her chest, crying her eyes out.

She didn't know how much pain and suffering she had cause Hiccup.

And now he was practically done with her.

She wanted to go down there and beg for forgiveness for ignoring him, for making him feel worthless.

But she didn't want to hurt him either further.

All she could do at this point was whimper three words over and over again.

"I'm sorry Hiccup"


	4. Chapter 4- A friendship born

**Hi guys a special treat for you all with a slightly long chapter, in honesty I wasn't going to make it long but so much to put into it. I will add one thing, the Ingerman males are all named after an animal followed by 'legs', you'll see what I mean when you read it. Anyway thanks for the reviews, follows and favorites, they exploded my inbox.**

 **Chapter 4- A friendship born**

It had been several weeks since Astrid discovered not only where Hiccup was living, and even she had to admit herself that the cove was beautiful, but also that Hiccup had done with the whole village, including her.

She couldn't help feel like she would miss him around the village, but knew if he was here still she would have ignored him like always and never know how he really felt.

But why does she feel like this for the little runt?

She shouldn't let it bother her.

She should be happy that they'll be less fires to put out and houses to repair now that he's not there to cause the havoc, it meant more time for her to train to become the fiercest shield-maiden Berk, no, the whole of the Barbaric Archipelago has ever known.

But that was it, she was training hard, she was trying not to let it bother her, she's even stopped having nightmares about Hiccups death.

But she wasn't happy.

It was like there was something missing inside of her, something she couldn't explain.

It was frustrating her so much as she pull her axe out from the scarred tree she used for target practice, she decided to call it quits early and head back home.

But as she got there she realized one important detail that would stop her from going home.

She couldn't get back in the house due to the roof caving in after a blue Deadly Nadder, crashed into it causing the whole thing to collapse, lucky enough her parents were out fighting while her little brother was safely in the great hall.

She had to admit it wasn't entirely the dragons fault as it had one of the nets thrown across it mid flight.

She remembered that it was all during the last raid they had a few days ago.

First one in weeks.

The first one after Hiccups banishment.

Everyone expected it to run smoothly since, according to them, the runt was no longer here to cause more trouble.

But it didn't run smoothly.

As their weapons and bolas got damaged, they sent them to the forge to be fix only to find Gobber rushing about like a mad man trying to keep up with the ever growing demands for weapons to be fixed.

But by the time he had managed to get through it all the raid was nearly over and most of the winter reserves we're saved this time but at the cost of the houses being left to burn or collapse.

This raid hadn't gone as smoothly.

And worse still, some took it to blaming Gobber until he retaliated back claiming he was one body short.

It was then they all shut up straight away, they knew who he was talking about. After that they all quietly left to start on repairs which left most of the day to do.

Astrid sighed as she watched them still doing it even today as Gobber yet again was trying to keep up with demands with stocking up weapons ready for the next raid on top of fixing tool and making materials available for those on repair duty.

'Could Hiccup departure be our downfall?' she thinks to herself before shaking the thought out of her head as she heads toward the great hall to find her family.

Unknown to her, a little further away, Fishlegs was getting hassled by Snotlout who had grown bored since his runt of a cousin was no linger there for him to bully, so settle on the next option.

Even though Fishlegs was built like a Viking, his demeanour says otherwise.

He was a gentle giant, he never used his fists to get his point across, but using his book smarts.

Unfortunately that never seems to work as Vikings, they don't use much on reading and as a result can be frowned upon, resulting in him getting bullied.

The reason he wasn't beforehand was because Hiccup was always the main target and no one else bothered with him because of his large size.

This is where Snotlout bullying comes to play.

Without Hiccup there, Fishlegs will be the one to get the full treatment that he got.

"Hey guppylegs where are you going?" Snotlout said with a smirk on his face as Fishlegs tried to quickly get away from the young Jorgenson boy.

But as he turned a corner, he was ambushed by the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston, who each grabbed his arms and kicking the back if his legs until he was kneeling on the ground and unable to move.

As Snotlout came around the corner, he saw his victim on the ground, held there by his two henchmen as he smirked before cracking his knuckles as he walked slowly closer toward the frightened boy.

 **Half an hour later Ingerman residence.**

"I wonder where Fish is?" the tall brown haired young woman ask as she looked out of the window as the sun was ready to set "he should have been home hours ago" she finished worryingly as a large hand patted her shoulder as she turn around to her blond-haired twin brother who only smiled at her.

"You worry too much sis, that should be our parents job, not yours, he'll be home soon Hena. He's probably hanging around with his..." he pulled a disgusted look on his face as he finished his sentence "..friends"

Hena grimaced at Yaklegs as she knew what he was thinking. The twins never liked their little brother hanging around with those mutton heads, and the expression Fishlegs gave them every time they brought them up, showed he didn't want to hang around with them either.

In truth they liked it better when he was friends with Hiccup, the boy was never bossy, never tried to be intimidating and Fishlegs could be himself around him as they were both smart for their age.

Then it changed after Hiccup was shunned away by Astrid and bullied by Snotlout and the twins, then was worse when their brother started to avoid him, something they were truly disappointed in Fishlegs for.

But what they never expected was Fishlegs to be their next target.

That was until the door slowly opened as both siblings looked toward who was coming in, only to look in shock at what they were seeing.

Their little brother, limping in, holding his right arm in his left, several bruises covering his bloodied and tear stained face.

Hena was the first to him as she gently dragged Fishlegs toward the nearby chair.

As she went to get a damp cloth and a few ointments, Yaklegs came up to Fishlegs with a mixed look of curiosity and anger, as he turned to look at his little brother straight in the eyes.

"Who did it?" he asked in a gentle sober voice, hoping he'll say who did this thing to him.

Fishlegs merely looked away from his brother, not wanting to say what happened.

But Fishlegs should know that his brother never gives up so easily as Yaklegs moves around to catch him in his brothers eyes again, looking slightly sterner than before.

"Who did it?" he asked again with less gentle tone and more frustration in it as Fishlegs shook his head.

"I-I c-can't" Fishlegs replied stuttering every word he said but was heard clearly enough by even his sister as she walked in with the damp cloth and ointment.

"Why not?" she asked calmly as Fishleg suddenly took interest in his feet as he started to explain why.

"B-because they'll make it worse for me"

It was at this point the twin Ingermans looked at each other and knew who he meant as they looked back at him before saying the same thing at the same time.

"Snotlout"

It was at this point that Fishlegs knew his sibling didn't need to guess as he sighed and slowly nodded.

Yaklegs then smiled as he gently laid his large hand on the chubby boys should, making him look up to him.

"We'll not say anything to mom or dad about this, now get some rest little bro"

It was at this point that Fishlegs was confused at his older brothers reaction to the whole thing as he looked to his sister who only nodded before he slowly got up after Hena cleaned his wounds up as head headed to his room.

As soon as Fishlegs was out of sight, their smiled faded to a scowl as they nodded before heading out of the door.

 **On the other side of the village**

"Ha ha ha, did you see the look on guppylegs as I pounded his fat face in?" Snotlout laughed with delight as the twins nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! And the way he screamed as we kept hitting him was so satisfying" Ruffnut replied as she leaned on her brother for support from all the laughing as he laughed along as well.

"Yeah! We never got this sort of reaction out from useless, it was fun!"

Snotlout wipe his eyes as they watered up from laughing so much.

"I can't wait for tomorrow when we can do that to him again"

"Do what again to whom exactly?" came a voice from behind Snotlout while he was still wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Oh come on guys! I know you're dumb but surely you know it's Fishlegs we're gonna beat up again tomorrow" he replied but as he opened his eyes to look for Ruff and Tuff, he noticed, they weren't in front of him, or anywhere near him for that matter.

"Err guys?" he said as he turned around to see a pair of twins, but not the ones he was expecting, but ones he didn't want to see.

Hena and Yaklegs stood there, looking down at the cowering Jorgenson boy as they had their arms folded, glaring at him.

He gulped and tried to make a run for it, but was stopped by two strong pairs of hands as they lifted him up with ease before they walked up the highest hill in the village.

"Y-you can't do anything to me! I'm a Jorgenson! My dad will kill you!" he shouts trying to get free of their vice grips and failed as they ignored his ranting as he tried a different method.

"And besides what would getting the future heir of Berk do for you anyway? You tell my dad or uncle Stoick they'll just give me a slap on the wrist"

"It's why we're not taking you to either of them, or to any adults in question" Yaklegs calmly said as he and his twin smiled mischievously

At this Snotlout was confused as they climbed higher up the hill.

"Then why are we going up this hill then?!" he shouts as both of them carry on climbing in silence, only speaking once they reached the top as they stood next to an old fish barrel that has never been cleaned out, thus smelling awful.

"You upset our little brother" Hena said with no sign of emotion in her voice as Snotlout looked at her and was about to say that Fishlegs snitched on him until Yaklegs cut him off.

"He never said a word before you ask, we knew you'd do something like that Snotface" he then glared at the Jorgenson as he cowered from their towering height before they lifted him up higher so they he was just above the barrels lid while Snotlout struggled and squirmed to no avail to get free as they forced him into the barrel, closing the lid hearing the mumbled shouts from inside as they position the barrel on its side and directly into the path of one of the houses at the bottom of the steep hill.

The Jorgenson residence to be exact.

The twins positioned themselves behind the barrel as they readied to push it.

"This is a warning to you Jorgenson..." Yaklegs said as Hena carried the sentence on.

"...mess with our brother and you mess with us!" and with that they pushed the barrel with all their might as they watch from the top of the hill as the snot-barrel accelerated faster and faster down the hill as it hit its mark.

*Crash!

It smashed right through the Jorgenson door and into the living room right in front of a eating Spitelout who by this point was wearing him mutton stew all over his head and most of his body as he looked down to see his oldest son at his feet, dizzy from the ride and smelling like a six month old kipper.

Meanwhile up on the hill, the twins were satisfied with their work as they hear a variety of colourful words coming from the Jorgenson hall as they headed back to their own home as they both thought the same thing.

'Mission accomplished'

Unaware of a one armed one legged blacksmith hiding around the corner, looking very impressed.

"Oh ho ho ho, Hiccup will ave a right laugh when I tell him about this"

 **A few days later in the cove**

From around the forest surrounding the cove all that could be heard was the sound of a childs loud laughter coming from there itself.

What could be seen was Hiccup, on the grassy ground rolling all over the place as he held his sides while an uncontrollable laughter came from his mouth and tears running down his eyes.

Gobber himself was chuckle after telling the young boy what happened to his cousin, but he was chuckling for two reasons.

That with that incident still fresh in his mind, it only got funnier the more he thought about it.

And the other was that, in a long time, Hiccup was laughing sincerely, something again the boy hasn't done in a very long time.

It used to scare him, thinking Hiccup would never genuinely laugh like this again. He can see for himself how much life was coming back to him every time he visits, and even physical changes too.

Since Hiccup spent most of his time chopping trees, gathering stones, fishing,foraging and hunting, his body has taken to it very well, showing small signs of muscle and a few bits of scarring.

Now many would think a ten year old boy living out on his own, surviving in the wild, especially someone like Hiccup. But Gobber would tell you wrong for several reasons.

For one, because they're Vikings living in a war against dragons, all children at a young age are taught to know the basics of survival, in case the worst happens. By this they are taken to the forests by a supervised adult and camp out for several nights at a time, where upon the adult teaches them how to make shelter, build a camp fire, without burning half the trees down, a mistake the twins learnt the hard way, gathering fruits and berries and finally fishing.

These things are the first things they're taught and as they got older, they learnt about trapping live animals and by the time they're around fifteen, fighting dragons.

Hiccup was taught the basics with his friends at that time and, despite his lack physical form, did pretty well.

But after he was abandoned by them all, he was taught about traps by Gobber, who being the village blacksmith, had to keep fixing them, so took Hiccup under his wing, as his apprentice, to show him how a trapped fully worked by 'learning on the job'.

A lesson Hiccup always figured with Gobbers teaching methods.

But nonetheless it came in handy, he only hunted small prey like rabbits and squirrels but with that plus the berries he gathered and the lake right in the cove, Hiccup was able to survive.

The only thing that ever worried Gobber was larger animals, like boars, wolves or dragons, being this far out of the villages perimeter, he worried for in case Hiccup gets attacked.

But from what Hiccup showed the old blacksmith intrigued him even more.

Around the walls of the cove were wooden stakes with the sharpened tips sticking upwards in case a boar or wolf tried jumping down from the top.

The entrance itself was also spiked but this one folded down and can only be lowered and lifted in a diagonal angle via a rope attached to it.

Hiccup admitted it was only temporarily until he got enough materials to create a better security system, to which Gobber suggested crossbows but Hiccup thought that through knowing if they all fired off he'd have to keep reloading them every time.

Gobber thought about how the lad had developed so well in only a couple of months, so much so that he didn't notice that Hiccup had stopped laughing and his facial expression changed from happy to serious, until he look straight at his a few seconds later.

"Somethin' on yer mind lad?" Gobber asked with concern as Hiccup stood up, walked back to Gobber by the fire pit and started to poke it with a stick, making the flames flicker.

"I'm just mad Gobber, I mean yeah, I get why they would bully me, being a runt and couldn't fight back even if I wanted to" he then looked from the fire towards Gobber "but why Fishlegs? Are they that determined to bully anyone who thinks beyond others?!" he started to bang his fist upon the ground in anger as Gobber watch on with sadness "I know he avoided me, but when times when it was just him and me, we used to talk about certain books we were reading and out own points of view on them. But I know that if he tried to hang around with me, he would get bullied as well, so..." he shrugged his shoulders as he finished off his sentence "...I didn't hold it against him"

Gobber knew there was a reason why the two smartest kids in the village never hung out, so only one got bullied instead of both.

He smiled and patted Hiccup on the shoulder as Hiccup looked up to him with green eyes as he spoke.

"Well lad, it looks like Fishlegs is getting the brunt of it now. He could use a friend"

Hiccup paused for a few seconds before looking towards the fire, then to the cove before smiling as he looked at Gobber.

"If he wants a friend Gobber, bring him with you next time"

Gobber raised his eyebrows in surprise as he looked at Hiccup with concern.

"Are ya sure lad?" Hiccup quickly nodded, sure in his own answer "then how would I get him ta come with me, I can' just say 'come with me Fishlegs, Hiccup wants to be friends with ya' the village has ears, and a bunch of cluckin' hens inside it"

Hiccup merely chuckled as he stood up, walking over to a red flower on the ground as he gently picked it up and smiled.

"Have faith in me Gobber, for I..." he turned around towards an intrigued Gobber with a serious look on his face before smiling once again as he finished his sentence.

"...have a cunning plan"

 **Six days later in the village**

It had been over a week since Fishlegs twin siblings took it upon themselves to teach Snotlout a lesson about bullying him, to which Fishlegs was grateful for, it left him feeling all alone.

Snotlout, Ruff and Tuff avoided him like Zippleback gas, not wanting to endure his siblings wrath once again.

As for Astrid, she avoided the group all together suddenly, spending more time either at her home or in the forest.

It seemed to Fishlegs that he had no friends to call his own as he sat outside his home watching the daily activities go by.

Then his thoughts turned to Hiccup. He wondered what he would be doing right now.

Fishlegs had to admit that even he couldn't go even a week by himself in the forest without cracking and running back to the village, and yet Hiccup's been gone for over two months an, according to Gobber, he seemed to be handling it all too well.

Upon remembering Hiccup however, Fishlegs looks down as he starts to feel guilty.

He knew the others were bullying Hiccup and he knew he was alone, he wished he could have done something to prevent that and even have been his friend.

But he didn't. Why? Because he was scared of getting the same treatment as him.

But now it seemed that since Hiccups departure, it happened anyway.

Sure his family love him to bits and make sure he's protected. Something Hiccup never got from his own family.

But now he wished he could turn back clock and be friends with him, at least then with their combined brain power, they could withstand anything.

But he knew you couldn't change the past and so just sigh sadly, unaware of Gobber hobbling over to him with a curious look on his face.

"Hey there Fishlegs, why the long face?" he asked as the large boy lifts his head up to look at the blacksmith with a frown.

"Hey Gobber, I was just thinking" Fishlegs replied in a dull tone to which the old blacksmith picked up upon.

"'bout what exactly?"

Fishlegs shrugged as he replied back to Gobbers question.

"What Hiccup would be like if he had one friend that had his back, would the events still happen the same? The banishment I mean"

Gobber pondered that thought for a moment as he scratched his rough chin.

"I would say yes Fishlegs, but it would mean a lot to him to know he has one friend" this made Fishlegs feel more down than ever as the words hit him hard.

"I wish I wasn't such a coward and just have been friends with him"

Gobber however was thinking of the plan he and Hiccup made up and decided to put it into motion as he laid his real hand upon the large boys shoulder as he smiled.

"The past is the past lad and we can't change it, only learn from it. I tell ya what, how about tomorrow ya come with me in ta the forest, I saw some new plant life tha' might interest ya" at this Fishlegs looked up suddenly beaming.

"N-new plant life?" he stuttered as Gobber smiled and nodded causing Fishlegs to quickly stand up with excitement as he went rushing of in the direction of the forest.

That was until he we grabbed by a hook on the back of his brown tunic.

"Woah there lad, I'm not going out there till tomorrow! Got too much work ta do today, but meet me at the forge at sunrise and bring some food with ya, we'll be out all day" with that Gobber lowered the large boy as he hobbled off back home leaving Fishlegs on the spot before rushing in to his house to tell his mom about tomorrow as he headed to his room to get prepared.

Meanwhile Gobber chuckled as he made his way back with one thought on his mind.

'Hiccup ya cunning git'

 **The next day several hours into the forest**

"Are we there yet?"

"No fer the twelfth time Fishlegs I'll tell ya when we do get there" Gobber groaned as he trekked through the heavily dense forest, remembering his way towards the cove.

They met up outside the Ingerman residence at sunrise and made good effort walking through, of course they stopped every hour to take a break as Fishlegs wasn't used to walking this long.

Throughout all that time, Fishlegs wouldn't shut up about everything he saw, from the bark of a tree to even the age of a pile of rabbit droppings.

It was driving Gobber batty and would have ended a lot more worse if he didn't realize they were at the entrance to the cove.

Gobber went down first before turning around to see Fishlegs frozen in place, scared to go down.

"A-are you s-sure its safe?" he said stuttering with a squeaky tone in his voice which only made the blacksmith roll his eyes as he walked on through.

"Very safe lad, now come on! You'll like what you see" Fishlegs gulped as he followed Gobber through the entrance and stopped once again as his eyes adjust to the bright sunlight coming from the sky, only to freeze in amazement at the beautiful sight right in front of him.

He had never seen all this beauty in one spot before as he looked from right to left before raising an eyebrow at the one thing that was misplaced from all this.

Wood and stone buildings stood next to a cave like it was attached to it, one looked like a forge, the other a half built house made out of mainly stone and wood.

He was about to wonder who lived here until a lone figure came out of the forge, looking sweaty and sooty from working in the heat, but even that he recognized the lone figure easily.

"H-hiccup?"

Hiccup could only smile as he got closer to the pair before nodding at Fishlegs.

"The one and only"

Before he knew it he was being lifted into the air by a tight hug from an excited Fishlegs as he swung him around as he laughed.

Hiccup however was finding it hard to breathe since his lungs were being crushed.

"Legs...need...air" he managed to get out as Fishlegs realized what he meant before putting him down.

"Sorry Hiccup, I'm just happy to see you" he shyly said, feeling a little embarrassed for his actions to which Hiccup waved it off as he breathed in some fresh air into his deflated lung.

"No need to apologise Legs I'd do the same if I had the strength to lift someone up" he chuckled.

"Y-you would?" Fishlegs questioned to which Hiccup nodded as he gestured for the two to come sit by the fire pit.

Gobber didn't even have to think twice as he sat down by the fire, noticing a few fish lightly roasting above it to which he took one for himself.

Fishlegs hesitated at first until he noticed how relaxed Hiccup and Gobber were as he followed suit and took a seat next to the fire too before looking around in amazement.

"I see you like my home" Hiccup said as he watch the large boys eyes wonder all over the place before landing them upon Hiccup and nodded.

"Gives me what I need to survive and to think of things I always wanted to do"

Fishlegs, was surprised at how calm and happy Hiccup was, yes he heard it from Gobber about it, but to see it for himself.

He couldn't help but feel jealous of Hiccup for this. But was still happy for him.

The three spent several hours chatting away about what had happened in the last few months, how Fishlegs got the full brunt of Snotlout and the twins bullying until his sibling butted in and scared them, how he felt alone after that and wished he'd have stood up for himself and have been Hiccups friend all along.

Hiccup had to smile about that, he always wanted to be Fishlegs friend but knew what would happen if he did, he couldn't let Fishlegs go through that too.

Hiccup then decided to carry on the conversation about, the book of his grandfathers taught him about survival and using your own unique strength to you own advantage, which explained the buildings and wooden stakes around the cove.

Fishlegs was impressed by the whole thing, that Hiccup was able to work freely on whatever he want to do without someone putting you down.

Fishlegs himself had a dream of having his own rock garden, a place where he could relax and plant seeds, but didn't want to in case people laughed at him.

This gave Hiccup an idea as he smiled making the other two confused.

"Say Fishlegs" he said as he looked around the large cove before looking back at him "I don't need all this space for myself, if you want to, you could make you own rock garden here and come by any time to work on it"

Fishlegs, to say the least, was taken back, they only started talking for a few hours and Hiccup was already giving up some of his home so he could have his dream come true.

"R-really? You're letting me build a rock garden here? B-but why?"

Hiccup gave a genuine smile towards Fishlegs as he gave him his answer.

"Because in all that time I was in the village, you never once said one bad word against me or even physically abused me"

"Yeah but I never stood up for you, I watched as they did all those things to you and never intervened" he protested, only making Hiccup shrug.

"But you never hurt me Fishlegs and that's the main thing" Hiccup countered, confusing the large boy.

"But still Hiccup, are you willing to give up your space for someone like me?"

There was no doubt in Hiccups mind as he stood up and held out his hand towards Fishlegs as he still smiled.

"It's what friends are for"

Fishlegs slowly stood up before looking at Hiccups outstretched hand and then to his face as he saw it right there and then.

Hiccup was being genuine about his actions. He wants to share his space with him and even offering a hand I friendship.

A wave of confidence surged through Fishlegs as he smiled and nodded before lift his hand to grip Hiccup as the two shake hands making Gobber tear up from all these heartfelt emotions he was seeing before him.

And for the first time in a very long while, both smart kids finally have a friend they can truly trust in.


	5. Chapter 5- An unwelcoming surprise

**Hey guys another chapter of our surviving hero, it seem my chapters are getting longer, but they can be occasions where it'll happened otherwise i try to stick to 3k word limit.**

 **I want to thank my reviewers for their ideas for this, I've taken them and archived them in my brain for later use.**

 **Anyway less chatting and more reading, enjoy.**

 **Chapter 5-An unwelcoming surprise**

It had been a few weeks since Hiccup and Fishlegs became friends and the two boys couldn't be any more happier.

They already got on like a house on fire as they discussed thing on an equal level of intelligence, mostly on books.

Fishlegs took an interest in Old wrinkly's survival book, finding the different rules fascinating, including using your unique ability to help in survival which he agreed upon quite easily.

He also started to document the different plant life that grew around the area and categorize them to determine which were edible and which were, with unfortunately meant in order to find out, he had to use himself as the test subject.

Hiccup caught the large boy more than once throwing up in a nearby bush because of this or saw his face swell up.

Lucky enough Gobber asked Gothi about borrowing a book to Hiccup on curing most of these which lead to Fishlegs throwing up once again.

Fishlegs also borrowed Hiccup a few of his families books that they had in their huge collection, mostly on different ways of fighting.

Since he was going to be here, he needed a way to defend himself just in case.

It's true that when Hiccup was trained to fight in the village, he failed miserably at everything he was taught, but there was a reason for that, mainly the villagers themselves, laughing at him whenever he failed, knocking his confidence down each time, in the end he eventually gave up.

But out here, there was no disappointment towards him, no one telling him he was a failure and no one to laugh at him, so this was the perfect opportunity to learn how to fight on his own terms.

What he didn't count on however was the amount of books Fishlegs brought with him to the cove full of different fighting techniques from not only just the archipelago but beyond it.

When Hiccup asked where he got all these books from he replied by saying that when trader Johan came into port, he'd be the first one to buy all his books, no matter what they were, stories, journals, cooking, fishing, education and some that were even quite naughty, especially for a ten year old who has never seen a naked woman before and didn't know what to make of it. After that he vowed to make sure what he was buying beforehand.

Now Hiccup could not only learn to fight like a Viking, but with all these other foreign fighting books, he could take the moves that suited his body type and choice of weapons.

Due to him chopping down trees most of the time since he came here, he got quite used to the axes weight.

But he wanted to do one better, he didn't want to just use an axe as his main weapon.

He wanted to duel wield.

You see for a few years Hiccup discovered he was ambidextrous, meaning he could use his left and right hand equally as well, but he found that his left arm was stronger than his right when it came to lifting his hammer, but hammers were too bulky for him to use as a weapon all the time. True they were good for defence and offence attacks, but the sheer weight of the head would wear out his stamina to quickly, thus leaving him vulnerable to attack.

Something he observed during dragon raids.

Hiccup would watch from the forge at the hammer and mace wielders, their attacks were strong and deadly, especially when thrown accurately, but they could only last for so long before the weight of their own weapon took its toll on them.

Swords were good for parrying attacks as well as quicker and longer offence attacks than their heavier counterpart and would be a choice for Hiccup to go for, but he could only use it for close combat only and not ranged attacks.

That's where the axe came in for Hiccup, strong and good for range attacks, but with enough lightness and balance to keep him going long in battle.

After debating so much in his head about what to go for, he decided to use both an axe and sword as his duel-wielding weapons of choice.

Now all he had to do was forge the weapons in question.

With a bit of Hiccup flare thrown in of course.

 **In the village**

While their little brother was enjoying life being Hiccups friend, his twin siblings were still force to feed the dragons in the arena due to what they did.

After Spitelout had given his son the lecturing of a lifetime, Snotlout told him who put him in the barrel in the first place, but as his father asked why they did it, he lied and said no reason whatsoever.

This got the head of the Jorgenson family mad as he assumed they were picking on his son for no reason and marched that very night to the Ingerman residence to give them a piece of his mind.

Which ended up with him and Mooseleg, Fishlegs father, fighting it out right outside his front door causing people to come out of their houses to watch the fight going on causing more to to take an interest in what was going on.

Including Stoick.

"What in the nine realms is going on here!" he boomed, causing everyone to jump from the volume of his voice before parting to let him through.

By now the two family heads stopped their fighting as they both looked directly at their chief, dirty, bruised, cut and pieces of their clothing torn from the scuffle, they both stood up to address Stoick, who at this point was standing there unimpressed by this situation.

He already been having a hard time keeping his anger in check for the last few months since his sons banishment. But with the lack of support for Gobber in the forge, he had to volunteer himself to help out.

But he was not Hiccup when it came to blacksmithing, the boy could works wonders with a hammer in his hands, giving it the right pressure of strength, despite his scrawny size, to mould a weapon perfectly.

Stoick however was to rough and strong to do gentle and mostly snapped the weapon in two before it could even be used, to which Gobber took pleasure in telling him each time it happened.

To make matters worse for the vast chief, the yak tipping pranks have gotten out of hand due to his time being stretched, although he already had a good idea who it was and the Thorston twins didn't appreciate cleaning up after the same yak's they tipped.

But now what he was seeing was really testing his patience.

Two respected Berk family heads fighting outside like children over the last piece of cake.

He simply stood there, not saying a word, but gestured for them to explain what their actions were about.

"His little hooligans smashed my door down as well shove my boy into a barrel which caused the broken door!" Spitelout yelled as a few gasps were heard from the crowd who all turned to look at the Ingerman twins, who had their arms crossed, looking very calm.

"Well if you taught your son about what happens when you bully someone..." Yaklegs calmly start off their reply as Hena carried on.

"...then he wouldn't have been shoved into that barrel and smelling a five month old trout right about now"

Again more gasps were heard as the crowd turned towards Spitelout waiting for his comeback.

"Well whoever he was bullying, most likely deserved it" he shrugged as he watch Hena being held back by her brother and father as she nearly lunged for the head Jorgenson.

"What?! Fishlegs didn't deserve anything your troutlout did to him!" she shouts back causing more gasps from practically all of the crowd as Spitelout was taken aback at what was said.

"Enough!"

Both sides froze as Stoick looked at both parties.

"Okay Spitelout, since your son started all this..."

"Now hold on Stoick..." Spitlout cut him off but was cut right back.

"Silence! Now as I was saying because your son started this mess, his punishment shall be to plough the fields..." he then turned towards the Thorston twins who by this point hid behind their mother "...along with the yak tippers of Berk too"

Ruff and Tuff looked at each other, confused on who he was referring to.

"Wait, who's the yak tipper?" Tuffnut asks as his twin rolls her eyes.

"It's me you dolt!" Ruffnut replied starting off the argument.

"What, how can you be the yak tipper? What's that make me then?"

Ruffnut grinned as she got close to her brother, putting her foot behind him then pushing him to the ground as she cackled.

"The yak"

Tuffnut sat right up as he glared as his sister.

"Well at least I haven't got a yak's butt sis"

Ruffnut then glared daggers at him as she leaped into the air before crashing right on top of him, starting a fight between the pair.

Their family held their heads in embarrassment.

The crowd watch with entertainment.

But for Stoick he could only face palm himself, as the who thing took place, all the while thinking that things had gotten worse since Hiccup was kicked out.

He felt like someone had cursed him.

Most likely his late wife's doing for failing to protect their son.

As the Thorston parent dragged their twins off of each other, Stoick took his hand off his face as he addressed the other two twins.

"You two for, wrecking a perfectly good barrel and a door, you shall both be feeding the dragons in the arena for the next few weeks" and with that he leaves to disperse the crowd while Brenna and Mooselegs looked at the twins before looking at their youngest, who was petrified, he only woke up after Stoick started to shout and when he heard that his siblings taught Snotlout a lesson, he was scared he made things worse for himself.

Mooselegs suddenly laughed as Brenna gave the twins and Fishlegs a bone crunching hug, confusing all three siblings.

"Y-you're not m-mad?" Fishlegs stuttered as his father looked at him with an amused look.

"Of course I'm mad! You know how much that barrel will cost to replace?!" he laughed as Fishlegs and the twins looked at each other.

Did their dad just said he was mad that he had to replace the barrel.

"That and for not telling us dear, but we understand" their mother said as she gently patted her youngest's shoulders as Mooselegs patted his twins on the back while still laughing.

"I always wanted to do that to a Jorgenson! Glad my loins have my brains!" that earnt him a glare from his wife that made him flinch "a-and your mothers fighting spirit of course"

So here they are now in the arena, feeding the dragons for the last time since they were told to, but all in all they always kept saying the same thing over to each other.

"It was well worth it"

 **Three months later in the cove**

Life for Hiccup had gotten a lot more better since his banishment, he felt like he could let go of his hatred for what the village did to him.

But he wouldn't let them know that, his hatred might have gone but he was still done with them.

Out here his skills as a fighter have drastically improve, not only in using a weapon, but his speed, stamina and strength have improved too, mainly due to his doing his daily chores of building, chopping, mining and hunting as well as his blacksmithing skills which due to him wearing out his tools quickly, he's constantly repairing them or forging a new one.

With his mind free to wonder he starts to use his inventions not only to improve his own quality of life, one being the completion of his house, using Viking design but replacing the outer layer with a mixture of clay, mud and crushed stones mixed together, creating a material that can be moulded and sets hard making the perfect wall. An idea he found while reading a few books on Roman and Greek structures, after that he knew he wanted to do the same in case he did get attacked by a dragons, then it would be harder for them to burn down his house. But as added decoration he did have some wood on the outside but it was mainly for decoration purposes and have no permanent attachment to the house itself, he did however paint the wood using some ore dust he found in his mine one day.

It consists of copper, zinc, iron ochre and silica mixed with water creating a sort of reddish paint which Hiccup thought it suit well with the stone walls.

At this point in time, he was busy near the waterfall working on some sort of wooden structure that involved hollow metal tubes that connected to a contraption that was directly underneath the water, the other end of the long tube was a big stone container, kind of like a forges, but this one was raised up high as the tube flowed water into it.

Underneath the container was a fire pit that was currently burning, heating the container and thus the water inside.

Another tube was sticking out of the other side of the container only instead of the top, it was at the bottom of it which lead into the house.

"There that should do it, lets give it a go" he said to himself as he jumped down from the structure before inspecting every bit of the tubing and container all the way to the house till eventually he went inside to where the other end of the second tube ended right above an empty bucket.

He inspected the tube which had a valve handle sticking from the top of it to stop or start the water flowing that was in the pipe at the moment. An idea he had watching the one on his fathers mead barrel work.

He slowly turned the handle as hot water started to flow through the end of the tube and into the bucket.

Hiccup smiled triumphantly at this as he punched the air, he spent a good amount of time trying to get it right without it going wrong and now he had hot water on tap, providing he kept the fire pit topped up with fuel.

Which reminded him, he needed to get more logs as devastating winter was on its way, he just hoped all his planning and inventions paid off in the end.

At least for one thing, he was okay for food for two reason.

One was that everyday he went out foraging and hunting for food, making sure to salt the meat so it didn't spoil before putting it into his storage barrels.

And two, even though he gained some muscle, he still was on the small size so didn't need a lot of food at all.

He did find another advantage to his small frame, he was good with stealth and speedy attacks where some of the normal sized people would more reply on strength.

He picked up his axe and sword before sheathing them upon him as he set off for the other side of the forest near a beach.

Hiccup usually rests there after cutting down trees before heading off back to the cove with his supply of logs.

Today was a usual thing with the trees. Nothing new to discover and no wild animals to threaten him, so afterwards he did what he always did, and rest next to the beach, with his sketchbook in his hand.

He always love to draw whenever he could, its what mostly kept his mind at ease knowing that all this beauty could be seen by him and no one else on the island.

His mind then wondered onto other things besides his inventions and his drawings.

He wondered if anyone in the village would remember what tomorrow was.

He knew Fishlegs, Gobber and his father should but what about the others?

More likely ignore it like they always did.

He closed his eyes and sighed for a few minutes before opening them only to spot something out at sea heading towards him.

It was too small to make out but by the looks of it, it was a longship.

He went through his bag and got out his spyglass just to be sure.

He only needed a few second to see he was right, but paled when he saw the tribal crest on the sails, a red horned helmet with four spike sticking out of the top.

Hiccup recognized it straight away from what his father told him if he ever saw that crest anywhere.

"Outcasts" he seethed as he watched closely as the men on the boat scurried around getting weapons set and prepared.

Hiccup put the spyglass down and smirked as he quickly headed away from the beach and picked up his logs.

"So they want to do a sneak attack" he said, remembering a few things his grandfathers book said about different ambush attacks.

Be vigilant.

He also remembered the number one rule in the book.

Use your personal strength to your own advantage.

His mind was his strength, he already proved that to himself.

"Lets see if brains does win over brawn" and with that ran all the way back to the cove to prepare his plan.

It was going to be a long night for him in order to get ready for what he had planned.

But once its got dark he had to complete one task that needed to be done.

He had to go to Berk in the dead of night and deliver three letters.

One to Gobber, one to Fishlegs and one to his father.

Hiccup dreaded having to go back there especially if they caught him.

But he had no choice, he had to protect them, no matter what they did.

So all throughout the day he turned his plans into something real.

He was going to use the forest as his own personal trap.

Activating his hidden snaring traps all around the forest floor to which he marked off on a map so he knew where to go once it was all over and done with.

He set up fall traps full of sharp sticks pointing upwards, not enough to kill but seriously harm.

He's a survivalist not a murderer.

Up in the trees he set up log traps connected to trip wires, one snap and their target will be flying back to their boat.

But the one Hiccup liked was using the wildlife to his advantage.

Most areas are covered in ants nests and when they feel threatened they will all attack to protect their queen.

For some strange reason it kind reminded him dragons, but he didn't know why.

The same with bees, to which he had plans for them too.

With all this, Hiccup would also be in the trees picking off individual soldiers, finding their weakness and exploiting it.

He will require his crossbow for this.

The one he uses when he out hunting larger prey.

He had plans for that too to make it more automatic, but getting the design and details down will take time, and at this moment he hand no time to waste.

 **Night time edge of the village.**

Hiccup was a complete mess.

Not emotionally, but literally he was a complete mess.

Since spending all the day time, and most of the night time getting his traps set up, he had fallen out of the trees dozens of times, luckily only falling into a bush, setting up his ground traps, only to nearly get caught in them himself, and he really doesn't want to talk about the ants nest situation, his butt was still itching from that.

But in the end he was triumphant, everything was set, all he needed to do now was send the letters to the right people.

He hoped the gods were on his side this time as he carefully sneaked past every house along the way.

But as he got to one particular house, he heard whimpering coming from the upstairs window.

He recognized the house straight away from the Nadders head mounted on the front.

The Hofferson residence.

He wondered who was whimpering upstairs, was it the youngest Fern Hofferson, Astrids little brother?

Most possibly since he was still young.

He decided the letter can wait for a few minutes as he silently and carefully climbed the walls until he got to the open window and nearly gasped in surprise.

It wasn't Astrid brother who was whimpering.

It was Astrid herself.

She seemed to be asleep, but was still upset about something as she tossed and turned in bed.

"N-no...please...not him...anything but him" she whispered as she looked like she was on the verge of screaming.

'She's having a nightmare' Hiccup thought to himself as he kept on watching her.

He could just leave and let her suffer.

It was no concern if he abandoned her, after all she did it to him.

Then why did he feel like he needed to help her?

Sighing in defeat, he carefully sat down next to her as he took one of her hands into his and started to gently sing.

"Little Viking, little warrior don't make a sound.

Be brave, be strong, make the Gods proud.

Yet you are still young and not old.

Your heart is as pure as gold.

So when the enemy strikes you with fear.

Attack back and make them tear.

So little Viking, little warrior don't make a sound.

Be strong, be brave, make the all father proud"

Hiccup watched as Astrid's facial expression, turn to one of calm as she fell into a peaceful sleep.

Hiccup could only smile remembering that song from when his mother sang it to him to calm him down as a baby.

He really wished he could remember the rest of her, but her song never left his heart.

He suddenly shook his head as he remembered he needed to this one last task before the nights end.

And with that was out of the window, down onto the ground and heading towards the forge, pinning the note on the door so Gobber will see it, followed by the one for Fishlegs, leaving it pinned to his front door before finally reach the chiefs house.

He wished he didn't have to come back here, he still remembers that day very clearly when most of the village wanted him gone.

And yet here he was saving their sorry butts all because Hiccup was too much of a nice guy.

With a deep sigh, he pinned the last note onto his fathers door before stepping back and heading off toward the forest once again.

He has done his bit.

Now its up to the Gods to see how it'll play out.

 **Next morning**

Stoick woke up with a groan and a pounding headache, something he's gotten used to for a few months now.

Ever since he banished his son, he has had nothing but guilt upon his mind and the only cure he could find for it, in his opinion, was mead.

But the downside was the hangover the next morning.

Which didn't seem to get better as someone was pounding their fist upon his door.

With another groan, he slowly got up from his chair he had been sleeping in all night long, adjusted his helmet before forcefully opening the door to none other than a worried looking Gobber.

"What do you want Gobber at this untimely hour?" he sighed as he noticed the sun was barely rising.

Gobber however didn't say a word, but handed him the note that was pinned on his door a few seconds ago.

Stoick took the letter as he tried to concentrate on the the runes that were on it.

 _To chief Stoick the vast_

 _I bring you worrying news that must be brought to your attention._

 _Earlier the previous day I spotted outcasts ships heading towards your island and by the shear number of outcast that were coming, that they're here to invade._

 _Please take precaution, prepare for an attack._

 _Don't take this threat lightly._

 _A friend._

Stoick put the letter down as he looked at Gobber confusingly.

"Outcasts? Invading? At this time of year?" Stoick said before laughing which confused Gobber even more.

And more rightly so as he too got a note, but this one was signed by Hiccup himself telling him not to go into the woods today, for he had a plan.

Gobber was about to protest that he shouldn't take likely until Spitelout came running up the hill, shouting and waving his arms about to get their attention.

"Stoick! Gobber! We've got big trouble!" he yelled as he made his way towards them, stopping to catch his breath once he was in earshot of them.

Stoick and Gobber looked at each other before they gestured for him to carry on.

"Ships...approaching...Outcasts..." he explained, still trying to catch his breath as Stoick looked wide eyed before rushing down the hill followed by the other two as he started to bark out orders.

"Man the catapults! Ready the weapons! Get the women and children into the hall now!" everywhere he went, people, left, right and centre all replied with an 'aye' understanding what their chief instructed.

Gobber however was thinking about something else, something that was happening today.

He knew about it and so did Fishlegs but he wondered is Stoick remembered.

"Err Stoick" he said cautiously as the vast chief turn to look at him as he carried on "ya do know what today is don't ya"

Stoick looked at him like he just turned into a Zippleback and he put an overlarge hand upon the blacksmiths shoulder.

"Of course I do Gobber, how could I forget"

At this Gobber smiled as he saw hope in what he was trying to do.

"It's the day we win a victory against the outcast!"

And just like that, Gobbers whole plan came crashing down as he watched his chief running towards the great hall.

Gobber stood there for a second as he sighed sadly before saying out loud to no one in particular.

"I'm sorry, I tried, I'm so sorry" and with that he hobbled to the forge to prepare the weapons for battle.

Little did he know a lone figure heard the whole thing as he watched Stoick coldly.

'He forgot' Hiccup thought to himself as he left his hiding spot as he rushed into the forest.

He was upset.

He was forgotten by his own father.

And he was pissed off.

And what batter way to ease this anger then by taking it out on a bunch of idiots.

 **A short while later**

On the other side of the island, the outcast army who were planning the ambush attack had landed upon the beach where Hiccup had seen them coming.

Each soldier wearing full chain mail and helmets armed with a sword each, looking thirsty for blood.

Their plan was to get to the edge of the village and once their leader, Alvin the treacherous, gave the signal, they would all come out of hiding and slaughter the surprised Berkians before they even knew it.

All they had to do was go through the forest and wait.

A plan simple enough.

But as they entered deep into the forest, they were unaware that they were being watched by forest green eyes.

And with their guard down as they trudged through the bushes and around trees, they didn't realize that they were being separated until it was too late.

SNAP!

The first outcast to fall landed his foot in a wolf trap, snapping it shut as the metal teeth dug straight through the flesh and bone as well as puncturing a main artery causing it to rapidly bleed out.

The outcast in question screamed out in pain, gathering the attention of the others who foolishly attempted to go back for them only to trip up and fall into a deep hole full of pointy sticks, stabbing right through his right leg and another through his left shoulder blade, but because of the armour he was wearing, it snapped the other stick upon impact however the landing itself wasn't soft as he laid there, unable to move on the count of his broken back.

At this point the leader of the army, Savage, knew there was something odd going on as he ordered his remaining men to keep their guard up.

Something Hiccup was planning on all along.

As the outcast were looking out for hunting traps and any holes in the ground, they failed to take into the count of the forest being on big trap for them, as a couple of them unfortunately found out.

They saw the trap on the floor and thought it would be clever to jump around it, unaware of the ants nest they stood in as they lost balance due to standing on the mound of dirt that was their home and fell on top of the whole nest as the whole colony of ants crawled onto the unfortunate pair as they started to bite them causing them to jump about until they accidentally fell into the hole together.

Pretty soon the large army was dwindling as they hit trap upon trap until there was a handful left.

Savage among them.

Now Hiccup knew by now that most of his trap had done its job, it was his turn to do the rest.

'Well lets see if my training pays off' he thought to himself as he jumped from the tree he was crouching in and into a nearby bush.

The outcast heard it and stayed in a defensive stance waiting to attack whatever was out there.

"You know you guys are so entertaining you know that!" came a loud voice from out of no where making the outcast looking around to find out where it came from.

"Who are ya coward! Show yourself!" Savage shouted as he gestured his men to get their crossbows out at the ready.

"Me?! I'm just a simple voice in the forest!" the voice replied as Savaged pointed to one of the bushes as the soldiers fired their arrows.

While their back was turned however, a small lone figure rushed out with a sword as he neared one of the outcasts, cutting him down before retreating while the others were unaware of what happened.

"Missed me!"

Savage, ignoring the soldier on the ground, ordered his men to reload and fire again at another bush with the same results as another one fell.

"Miss me, miss me not you gotta kiss me!" the voice teased as Savaged got mad and ordered the remaining men to go head on into the bushes to stab them.

But no one was in them.

Instead what they found was arrow come whizzing through the trees, hitting their limbs.

As one arrow fired right through one of the outcasts knees the voice started up again.

"And he used to be an adventurer like me, before he got an arrow in the knee" the voice chuckled.

Eventually all that was left was Savage, who took up a second sword as he shouted once more.

"Come on out you coward and face me one on one!"

As he finished however, he heard a thud from behind him, one to be confused at what he was seeing.

It was a boy, a scrawny one at that, not even a teen.

He had to laugh as he watched the boy standing there looking innocent.

"What?! You're joking right?! This little runt took out my men?!" he then looked around as he shouted again "can't face me in a fight so you sent this little runt ta meet my blade!" he laughed as he pointed his sword at the small boy "any last words kid?"

Hiccup however smirked as he drew out his sword and axe with both hands as he glared at Savage.

"Yes I do" his smile turned into a snarl before finishing off his sentence.

"Run!"

 **Meanwhile back in the village**

The Berkians wait for the the boats to dock, only to be confused as to why there were only three boats and not the whole fleet.

Alvin was the first one to jump off the boat, sword not drawn out, confusing the villagers even more.

"Well well well, I wasn't expecting a welcome party like this, if I'd have know I would have worn me best helmet" Alvin said as the men behind him laughed.

Stoick however was not amused.

"What do you want Alvin, ya know ya banished from Berk, which means you can't step foot on here until I say so" he growled at Alvin whole didn't seemed phased by this as he shrugs it off.

"Yeah I know that, but what are enemies without a little invasion once in a while"

Stoick now looked confused as he spotted a hundred men at least.

"Well unless I'm going crazy but I'm sure an invasion should consists of more than a hundred men"

At this Alvin simple nodded as he had to agree.

"Ya right again old friend..." he gave the Berkians an evil grin as he shouted from the top of his lungs "now!"

The villagers were confused as to what was going on, were they being ambushed, if so then where?

However after a couple of minutes, nothing happened, now it was Alvin's turn to look confused as he shouted again.

"Now!"

The villagers and outcast looked around now as still nothing happened.

Alvin now was angry, his this is not what he planned, he decided to give it a third go as he shouted again.

"I said no..." but he was cut off by loud screams as several injured outcast came limping out of the forest as fast as they could followed by a frantic Savage who was holding his bleeding arm.

Now everyone was confused as the injured outcast limped through the crowd and onto their boats.

Savage however ran toward Alvin, panting hysterically, sweat, blood and dirt covered his face his arm clearly bleeding and broken, but Alvin didn't care, he grabbed his second in command by the scruff of his tunic pulling him closer towards his face.

"What happened to the plan?!" he shouted as Savaged flinched and, with a shaky hand pointed towards the forest where a lone figure was slowly walking out of the forest, axe and sword at his sides, with a smirk upon his face.

Although Alvin was shocked the villager were ever more so as they recognized whole this lone person was.

"H-hiccup?" Stoick stuttered as he stared at his son followed by the others.

Hiccup however stood there, not daring to move another inch as he stared at the outcast chief and smirked.

"Well well well Alvin the treacherous, so nice of you to pop over to Berk on a beautiful day like this. You must have known it was my birthday" Hiccup said casually as the villager gasp, but none more than Stoic the vast, who stood there completely stunned.

He forgot his only child's birthday.

"But I really don't need Idiots as a birthday present Al, as you can see I already have some already" and with that walked back into the forest leaving all of them shocked.

Alvin however was the first to come out of it as he face palmed himself before sighing.

"Alright men, back on the boats" he groaned as his men followed their orders just as Stoick came out of his trance.

"What? That's it? No fighting? No conflict? Just that's it?" he said as Alvin turned and merely shrugged.

"What can I say? My plan was thwarted and by your little runt too!" he turned to head to his boat as he said one last bit before jumping on "Ya want conflict Stoick the vast, take it up with ya son!" and with that started to bark orders for them to sail back to outcast island.

Meanwhile Stoick and the others were still stunned.

There was no bloodshed on their side and theirs took heavy damage without them knowing.

And from what was shown, by Hiccup nonetheless.

Stoick wanted to find out how he did it, how his son survived all those months and how he managed to take on a whole army of full grown men so easily.

And with that he was off to follow where Hiccup had gone, ignoring the protest from Gobber.

Hiccup meanwhile walked slowly through the forest.

He was tired both physically and mentally.

All he wanted to do was sleep so he could get back to his daily work the next morning.

Unfortunately the Gods decided to tease the young boy once again.

"Hiccup!"

He tried to ignore it and carried on walking, however the sound only grew louder until he had no choice but to stop.

"Hiccup..." Stoick said as he finally caught up with his son who still had his back to him.

"What do you want?" he said coldly not wanting to see his fathers face.

Stoick never heard his son speak like that before, but he still wanted to know how he did it.

"I just wanted to say..." he paused as he looked at his sons back before Hiccup decided to speak up.

"Go on"

"...I just wanted to say how you managed to take on a whole army of outcasts by yourself?"

Hiccups shoulders slumped, he was hoping his father would have said sorry for forgetting the day of his birth, but not this.

"Is that all you have to say?" he turned his head sharply to glare at the vast chief who was taken aback by this as Hiccup started to get angry.

"How you managed to take on a whole army of outcasts?! Really?! Even after I said it in front of the whole village and the outcasts you still haven't caught on what today is!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, tears in his eyes as Stoick stood there in shock.

"No 'I'm sorry Hiccup for forget your birthday' am I that easily forgotten to the village?! To you?! For Thors sake! It's bad enough I was banished for something that I didn't do! But to be forgotten by my own father?!" Hiccup started to breathe heavily as Stoick looked on in horror.

Was that his son was feeling right now, all because of that one decision.

"H-hiccup I..." he was about to say sorry but got cut off before he could.

"No! No more words! I'm done now! I understand where I stand" he bow his head as his shaggy hair covered his face.

"Son... I'm..."

"Good day Stoick..." Hiccup cut him off again as he turned around "...keep your village safe, as always" and with that started to run all the way back to the cove, screaming at the top of his lungs as it echoed throughout the forest.

Stoick however was on his knees as tears stained his red beard.

"I'm sorry Valka, I failed our son" he sobbed as he repeated the same words over and over again.

"I'm sorry"

 **oh Stoick you twit, fancy forgetting your sons birthday, ah well.**

 **I wanted to add an extra note about the paint i described is a popular paint used in Sweden called** **falu rödfärg, it's been round since the 16th centery but seeing as this it Hiccup were talking about, his mind is way beyond his own time, so anythings possible. Anyway Hope you enjoyed this and stay tuned for more.**


	6. Chapter 6- Axes and claws

**Over 200 followers in just 5 chapters? I am shocked, I'm amazed, I did this story on the off chance that some might like it and yet I've nearly gotten more than my other stories.**

 **Again another bloody long chapter, I swear I don't do this intentionally, its just so many ideas keep popping through my head and I just type it in, but anyway here we are chapter 6, hope you enjoy.**

 **Chapter 6- Axes and Claws**

It had only been two since the Outcast attack, but the villagers were still talking about it.

Not necessary the Outcasts themselves but how Hiccup managed to take down the lot in the forest.

The villagers afterwards were shocked.

Well except Gobber and Fishlegs when they told him in the great hall, they knew what Hiccup was capable of, they knew he was smart enough to survive so knew when he had a plan, he went through with it.

It wasn't surprising to them when they came to the cove a few hours afterwards to see Hiccup in a fetal position crying his eyes out.

They knew it was because Stoick forgot his own sons birthday and the way the chief came back with his head down as he went into his house, they guessed he didn't apologise either.

Both of them spent the entire day with Hiccup, trying to cheer him up with the birthday gifts they got him, including one from the village healer Gothi, who gave him a pestle and morter set as well as a book on medical herbs and their properties so he can make up his own in case he needed to..

Hiccup appreciated that at least a few people from the village cared for him and eventually his mood did change back as he started to show designs that might intrigue Fishlegs love of plants and growing them.

It was a house made out a see through material that would take in the suns heat, helping them grow better than in the harsh and tough soil of Berk.

He planned on doing this by using the same method he used to make his spyglass with.

Glass. A material that Berk has practically forgotten about due to the war with the dragons.

But as Hiccup saw in the time he has lived here, no dragon has attacked him.

Sure some fly by but they don't seem to come anywhere near the forest for some reason.

So making this building would have no problem for him.

All he needed now was the material to make it.

One mainly being sand, and lots of it.

And so that's what Hiccup had been doing for the last two weeks, gathering the materials to make, what Fishlegs happily named, a greenhouse.

But back in the village most of them were starting to see Hiccup in a different light, that he wasn't so useless after all.

And because of that they felt guilty for how they treated him.

Well almost everyone.

"He's still a menace! He will never change! It's all an act!" came from crusty old the mouth of none other than Mildew who had seen for himself what Hiccup had done but he still wanted to start an argument that got the village riled up.

"Mark my words, if we let him anywhere near the village, he'll cause nothing but trouble again!"

"Kind of like what your doing right now?" came a voice from behind him as everyone around stood there in silence while Mildew replied.

"Exact...huh?" he looked around at everyone who awkwardly stood there in silence until he turned around only for him to step back in shock as none other than Stoick stood there, arms folded looking extremely angry, angrier than he was when he saw Mooselegs and Spitelout were fighting.

Mostly because for the past two weeks he has had trouble sleeping, even the mead wasn't helping him.

It was because of Hiccup.

He wondered how he could have forgotten his birthday, his only child's birthday and even after saving the village from an ambush attack by the Outcasts.

But to hear the same person who started the whole banishment thing in the first place still talk like Hiccup was nothing was Stoicks last straw.

But what could he do?

He couldn't exile him off the island or jail him, he'll only find a way to rile up the villagers again.

But he did have one idea.

He stood close to Mildew, towering over the old man as he looked directly at him.

"You still drag Hiccups name though the mud, even after he saved your sorry butt from being slaughtered?" Stoick growled, trying to keep his anger under control.

Mildew however merely shrugged like it doesn't faze him one bit "I tell it as it is Stoick, he has been nothing but trouble since the second he could crawl, banishment is the least he should get"

Stoick merely raised his eyebrow as a small smile formed on his lips.

"Oh really?"

"Really!"

"Good, then you'll have no problem in getting a taste of what its like"

At this Mildew looked directly at the chief wide eyed.

"What?!"

"Mildew the Cantankerous! You are hereby thrown out of the village for disturbing the peace among the village, so says the chief!"

Mildew looked in shock "y-you can't do that! I demand a vote!" he yelled as looked around to see all the others whispering to each other.

Stoick was about to deny this act until he was shoved aside by a long staff wielded by the village elder, healer and seer, Gothi, who started to draw in the dirt as Gobber came forward translated it.

"She says she will decide if he stays or if he's a goat?"

Whack!

"Ouch oh she said if he stays or if he go's, personally rather have him as a goat, less noisy"

Gothi merely rolled her eyes as she stepped forward looking directly into Mildews eyes as he glared right back.

"Oh what you going to do, scare me with you sorcery, you don't scare m..." he didn't get to finish his sentence as he was swept off his feet by her staff before being whack over the head with he staff, he looked at her retreating form as she walked towards Stoick, looked slightly nervous, after all she usually did that to him ever since Hiccups banishment. She was never happy with the decision he made and made it clear by hitting him with her staff.

However, it seemed today was his lucky day as she took all her anger out on Mildew instead as he pointed her thumb down before disappearing through the crowd.

Stoick, sighing with relief, turned to the look at the cranky old man laying on the floor.

"Well the elder has spoken, get out of the village by sundown Mildew" Stoick said as he turned around and walked away just a Mildew was about to talk.

"W-where am I suppose to live?!"

Stoick stopped but never turned around but retorted back.

"Hiccup was only ten when we banished him and he's still alive today, you have fifty winters more experience, figure out yourself" and with that carried on walking back home feeling good about that, but it still mad him think about his son.

He just wondered if Hiccup would ever forgive him.

He can only hope.

Meanwhile on one of the cliffs near the village a lone Astrid Hofferson sits on the edge watching the waves crash against the rocks as she is lost in her own thoughts.

It seemed for the last two weeks she hasn't been getting her usual nightmares like what had been occurring since that night of Hiccups banishment.

Sure they weren't as bad as the first two weeks where she kept having nightmares about his death over and over again before finding out he was okay and surviving very well.

But as she thought that would be a it, a new set of nightmare plagued her, ones where because Hiccup wasn't there, that the whole village suffered tragedy which involve people dying right in front of her.

Her family, her friends, the other villagers, even the chief, all killed by black shadows flying around.

This scared her too up until the night before the Outcasts raided where upon that nights batch of terror driven dreams were halted halfway through by a bright light and a voice that made them go away, bringing the villagers back to life.

The voice told her to be brave for the gods, to not let fear rule her and from there, as the singing stopped, so did the shadows as they were incinerated by the light.

It was the first decent sleep she had in months.

But what was strange to her was the voice kept coming back every night with the same words, each time destroying the shadows. But as the singing stopped and she woke up to find out who was doing it she was shocked to see what was in her room.

Nobody.

Just her.

She wanted to know more where this voice came from.

But who to ask?

She couldn't ask anyone of the villagers, they'll only laugh at her.

She couldn't ask her parents, they won't understand either.

She was pondering this until she heard the screams of that old git Mildew being pummelled by Gothi.

And then the idea came to her.

If anyone can explain this to her, it would be Gothi herself.

But she also remembered that she took a vow of silence and needs an interpretor to say what she wanted to say.

So as she thought about that she stood up and ran through the village.

Not to Gothi's hut, but to Gobbers forge.

Lucky enough he just returned straight after Mildew had been dealt with and was about to look over some things Hiccup said he needed when he heard someone walking through the entrance to the forge.

He turns around to see a nervous looking Astrid looking at him as he put down the list as he gave his full attention to her.

"Can I help ya Astrid"

Astrid was looking more nervous, the last time she talked to him he had a go at her for saying Hiccup started the fire.

She had to choose her words carefully.

"Err yeah Gobber, I-I need to see Gothi about something a-and only you can translate for her" she asked as she tried and failed to not stutter.

Gobber too was wondering what she was going to say, but as she asked about translating for Gothi, he could understand as he, besides Stoick, Fishlegs and Hiccup, could translate what she scribed in the dirt.

"Aye lass,I'll help translate fer ya what she says" he said with a genuine smile as he lead her towards the old healers hut up on the hill.

After a few minutes of climbing, not an easy feat for a man with one arm and leg, they finally reached the door of Gothi's.

Gobber tells her to wait outside as he walks in talking to the elder and before long both he and Gothi walk out to a waiting Astrid.

Gothi looks at her as she gestures the young teen to proceed to her reason for being here.

Astrid takes a deep breath before telling her and Gobber about her nightmares she has had since Hiccup was banished, flinching at his name in case it set Gobber off, thank Thor it didn't, as she carried on.

She did see a reaction in his face when she mentioned about following Gobber to the cove and eavesdropping on their conversation, but realizing in all that time she never said a word to where Hiccup was living, let it slide for now.

She then told them how one nightmare of Hiccups death turned into months of the same shadowy nightmare that was until two weeks ago when the voice in her dreams stopped them.

Now both Gothi and Gobber looked at each other before looking back at the now scared Astrid as Gothi scribbled into the sand box in front of her house while Gobber translated what she wrote.

"She's says can ya recall what the voice said each time lass?" Astrid nodded as Gothi gestured for her to proceed.

She took in another gulp of air before singing it.

"Little Viking, little warrior don't make a sound.

Be brave, be strong, make the Gods proud.

Yet you are still young and not old.

Your heart is as pure as gold.

So when the enemy strikes you with fear.

Attack back and make them tear.

So little Viking, little warrior don't make a sound.

Be strong, be brave, make the all father proud"

She bowed her head, trying not to let the tears fall as Gothi and Gobber exchanged looks once again.

They both knew that song and they knew who sang it.

But why would Hiccup risk coming to the village every night just to sing to Astrid, especially when he said he was done with her.

Unless he wasn't being honest.

This was something he would ask him about later on when he went to go and visit.

But for now both he and Gothi wanted to know why she was having these nightmares.

Gothi had an idea and headed back into her hut as the other two looked curiously as they could hear noises of things being moved about until a few moments later when she emerged with A bowl, a back of what sounded like bones rattling, a full skin flask and a bowl full of white powder.

She placed them all upon the floor, with the empty bowl right in front of her as she poured the white power plus the bones into it before opening the flask and pouring the contents out.

What poured out was a foul smelling red liquid that slowly oozed out into the bowl making Astrid hold her breath in case she threw up.

Gobber however wasn't fazed by this due to his own smell.

Once all the 'ingredients' were put together, she slowly got back up, walked towards Astrid before...

Pluck!

"Ow!"

Walking back with a lock of her blond hair before throwing it into the bowl as well which disappeared after a few seconds while Gothi looked on to see what would happen as she waved her staff over the bowl as the other two watch curiously at what was going to happen.

Suddenly the contents began to boil as something rose to the top, settling upon the surface.

It was Astrid lock of hair that Gothi took, but it was curled into an shape of an object.

An axe.

'What did this mean?' Astrid thought to herself as Gothi scribbled into sand once again while Gobber read on.

"Its the symbol of you as a...warthog? What's a warthog?"

Whack!

"Ow okay okay...warrior! It's the symbol of you as a warrior" he muttered rubbing the back of his head.

Astrid stood there as she saw her own symbol.

She liked using axes out of the other weapons and even had one at a young age, her uncles old one, but when she over used it and saw a crack in the head, she was scared to use it again as it was her last connection to him as self exiled himself for brining shame upon the family so opted for it to be hung in her room as a decoration.

But she secretly hoped to use it once again one day.

But she was brought back from that thought as she saw Gothi carefully pick up the hair from the bowl which she saw straight away that the blond hair had changed colour to a reddish sort.

It was to be expected as the contents were red too.

However Gothi still look intrigued at the lock of hair as it dried and pretty soon, so did Astrid.

Once it did dry the colour changed slightly, no longer a reddish colour but more brown now.

One could say auburn coloured.

Gothi put the hair down upon the ground as she scribbled again while once again Gobber translated.

"She says that your symbol has something te do with someone with this coloured hair"

Astrid was taken aback, there weren't many people she knew who had that colour hair, most people she knew either had red, blond, full brown and even black hair.

But here Auburn was quite rare to find upon the island and the only person she know who does is...

She bowed to Gobber and Gothi before running off down the hill and towards the plaza before making her way around the corner of a house so she could catch her breath as she remembered what it was about.

'How could it be him?' she thought to herself 'he said he was done with me, so why should he bother?'

She couldn't understand why she remembered him from her past, on how they used to be friend, but as the need to gain her families honour back, she ignored him completely and yet if this was correct, he was tied to her in some way.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she overhears the most annoying sound coming from the other side of the house she was leaning against.

"Stupid Hiccup, coming back here, ruining my chances of showing the village what I was made of" Snotlout was angrily saying as she took a sneak at who he was saying it to was the Thorston twins who were sniggering at what he said.

"What you mean like pissing your pant in the great hall?" Ruffnut retorted as her brother laughed in delight.

"N-no! I didn't piss my pant! I was err sweating, yeah that's right sweating!" he boasted trying to act cool but that wasn't fooling anyone as Tuffnut butted into the conversation.

"What? You sweat from you dick? I didn't know you could do that? Can you do that sis?" this earnt him a punch around the jaw from Ruffnut as she tackled him to the ground, earning a groan from Snotlout.

"Will you two mutton heads shut up!" this made them stop as he carried on "the point is now Hiccup has shown he can take on the Outcast, the villager will surely want him back here"

This made the twin stand up and shrug as Ruffnut began to talk "well technically it wasn't his fault for getting kicked out..."

"...considering it was us that was messing about in the forge which caused it to set on fire, in fact Hiccup was trying to put it out. A shame really. If it hit the forest, the inferno would have made Muspelheim look like a couple of fleas having a light your fart competition" this made Snotlout and his sister look at him in confusion "What? I listen sometimes"

Snotlout rolled his eyes as he grabbed both the twins collars as he made them look at him.

"Listen you two mutton heads, if anyone finds out what we did, they will do to us as they did to useless, you got it?!" he seethed as they quickly shook their heads as he let them go before smiling once again.

"Right now that's cleared up, lets head to the great hall, I want to mutton" and with that walked away followed by the twins as Astrid leaned back against the house in utter shock at what she heard.

'Gobber was right, Hiccup was innocent' she thought to herself as she bowed her head and sighed.

"And I didn't believe him" she mumbled as she walked away towards her house as she thought one thing.

'What kind of friend was I?'

 **In the cove a few hours later**

Hiccup and Fishlegs were having a discussion on the new greenhouse as what to put in there.

Fishlegs had been busy getting exotic seeds from trader Johan since his last visit as well as some from the markets and any that were lying about in the forest.

Thanks to Hiccups blacksmithing skills and his inventions, he was able to get good trade for most of this but Johan did say they would be useless to grow without a constant warm place for them.

Lucky enough for that Hiccup through of that too as he thought of using the same sort of pipes to travel under the ground of the greenhouse, keeping it warm, something he found out accidentally when he place his hand upon the metal pipe while it was hot causing severe burns which he was lucky enough there was a cold lake nearby to calm it down.

His hand was still bandaged up and would remain like that for a while but he lived through the pain since he spent five year with the same level of pain so a month or two wasn't going to make too much of a difference.

But in all this Fishglegs was worried, he knew Hiccup love to invent but ever since the Outcast encounter, he has gone over the top, he fears Hiccup might be using work as a way to hide his emotions.

"Say Hiccup, why don't you rest for a bit, I can handle the other bits, by the look of your eyes" he pointed at Hiccup as he saw the huge bags under his eye and the eyeballs themselves where bloodshot red, indicating he had been up most of the night working "you could use a rest"

If truth be told Hiccup was tired, he had been like this since the confrontation with his father, he'd sleep for a couple of hours before waking up and working on something either in his forge, designing some new invention he was going to build or went hunting.

He was still mad that everyone beside Gobber, Fishlegs and Gothi could forget him so easily.

And to top it all off, every night he kept sneaking into the village to do one thing and one thing only.

Sing to Astrid until her nightmare stopped bothering her.

He didn't understand either, he said he was done with her and yet he keeps being there to calm her down at night.

In truth yes he wanted to sleep.

But did he want to, no.

He shook his head at his friends suggestion as he headed to the forge to work on some weapons Gobber wanted doing for him.

It helped out a lot for the old blacksmith who was still short handed, in a manner of speaking, since Hiccups banishment so he said he'll make weapon for him to help with the ever growing demand at the village forge.

"Relax Fishlegs, I feel fine, just a lot to work on before devastating winter kicks in, first one by myself away from the village and I don't want it to be my last" Hiccup said happily as he pounded away at a freshly moulded axe head.

Fishlegs still wasn't convinced "err Hiccup I really think you should..." but was cut off as Hiccup slammed the hammer hard onto the axe head causing a crack to form and making Fishlegs jump back in fear.

"Fishleg! I said I'm alright! If I say I'm alright it means I'm alright!" he shouts as he lets go of the hammer and puts his leather apron down before he walks toward the cove exit "s-sorry Fishlegs, I-I just need to take a walk" he reaches for his axe on his back as he bows his head "alone" and with that runs out of the cove just as Gobber was coming around the corner.

Gobber looked confused as he sees a shocked Fishlegs standing next to the forge so hobbles over to him to ask him what's up.

"Fishlegs why did Hiccup run off like that?" he asked as large boy told him everything about Hiccup looking tired to telling him to take a rest right before he stormed off, he started to feel guilty about doing it though until Gobber smiled and put his real hand upon his shoulder.

"Don' worry yerself lad, it's what happens when yer over tired" he explain trying to cheer him up, but even he was worried about Hiccup.

He knew it was him who was trying to keep Astrid's nightmares at bay but now he's got a feeling that it runs deeper than this.

And so decided to follow Hiccup to find out how deep it ran.

He knew he couldn't find his trail, more likely he travelled through the trees, but all he had to do was follow the angry screams he could hear right now.

When Gobber got there, he could believe his eyes.

Nearly every tree in the area was either hacked to pieces or had fallen down completely.

Hiccup must have a lot of anger built up, and he had a feeling why.

He watched the boy breathing heavily as he scream at the top of his lungs as he swings his axe into the tree so hard, it slices through it and carrying on as it hit the boulder next to it, breaking the axe head as shards fly in all different directions, several hitting Hiccups forehead and left cheek before he falls to the ground crying his eyes out as he starts to speak.

"Why Gobber" he whimpers as Gobber is taken by surprise that Hiccup knew he was watching as the boy carried on.

"Why did he forget me?"

Gobber knew who he was talking about as he emerged from his hiding place, slowly walking over to him.

"Ya know he hasn't forgot about yew, he's just Stoick that's all" this was when he stopped as Hiccup snapped his head around to look at him with tears down his eyes and his face all bloodied.

"But he did! He forgot about the day of my birth Gobber! What kind of parent does that to not only his child but his only child! You saw the look on his face!" he yelled ignoring the pain inside his throat from all the scream he was doing.

Gobber however didn't have an answer for that.

He too had a go at Stoick for this too, he always stuck up for his friend but even he had to draw the line somewhere for forgetting his sons birthday.

Hiccup, upon no answer given, carried on talking but in a more calmer tone "I should of expected it from him seeing as he never even gave me a chance to explain who did start the fire in the forge" he started to cry again as he looked at Gobber "I tried to stop them Gobber but they beat me to the ground as they carried on, they wouldn't listen until it was too late, then they ran off as I shouted for them to help me, I couldn't do it by myself, not with the fresh wave of pain they gave me, I couldn't put out the fire, I was u-us..."

"...don't ya dare say it Hiccup! For Thors sake don't ya dare!" Gobber cut Hiccup off as he rushed to the broken boy, who was tired both physically and emotionally as he lifted him off the ground before give him a tight hug letting the boy sob on his shoulder.

"Yer not useless lad, you are far beyond useless" he calmly said, patting the boys back as he carried on "I mean who could calm the fearless Astrid Hofferson down from her Nightmares" it was then Hiccup lifted his head from Gobbers soaking shoulder as he looked with a raised eyebrow while Gobber smile and carried on "yes Hiccup, I know it was yew"

He put Hiccup down as the bot rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Yeah well I was passing by and didn't want to hear her whimpering, could be bad for her image" now it was Gobber's turn to raise an eyebrow as he ask Hiccup a question.

"An' how many times did ya 'pass by' her house Hiccup?"

Hiccup tried to give an innocent smile which didn't match his red eyes as he gave his answer.

"Err fifteen times..." he replies as his innocent smile turns into a toothy smile as he carries on "..at night"

Gobber rolled his eyes at the last bit "no duh Hiccup, that's when nightmare usually happen"

Hiccup blushed with embarrassment from that but brushed it off as the two slowly walked back after Hiccup pick up the remains of his axe as Gobber examined it astonishingly.

"That was a good axe too lad, finely crafted I would say, I'm quite surprised ya managed to break it like you did, kinda reminds me of Finn Hoffersons axe" Gobber said as he stopped when he saw Hiccup stop.

"Finns axe. The one Astrid wields?" he asked Gobber.

"Wielded lad" Gobber corrected him making the boy confused "the day yew were banished, if I recall, she went out to the forest to do her usual killing of trees until she his a really dense one and cracked the base of the axe head, I tried to tell her that fixing it will do no such good as it was far beyond repair, and she didn' want the head to be changed otherwise it wouldn't be her uncles axe anymore" he explained as Hiccup stood there and thought.

He remembered how her uncle gave that axe to her on her fifth birthday, to tell her to carry it with pride, she did so every day even after he left.

To see her without that axe would explain her nightmares, he wasn't there and her uncles axe couldn't protect her either.

Despite all he said, that he was done with her, if he was being honest, he wasn't, not by a long shot.

And he didn't want to know she wasn't carrying her axe anymore.

He had to do something.

But what?

It then hit him the best way possible as he turned toward Gobber, with that determined look on his face.

"When is the next dragon raid Gobber?"

Gobber looked at him curiously as he replied "if my calculations are correct, I would say tonight, why?"

Hiccup merely gave him a grin and for some reason, Gobber knew what that meant.

"Oh here we go again" he sighs as Hiccup starts to speak.

"I have a cunning plan"

 **Later that night in the village**

Gobbers calculations were correct, a dragon raid did come, and in full swing by the looks of it.

Hiccup realized he'll need to be focused at all times if he's to get to the Hofferson hall and into Astrid room to retrieve her axe.

It's good thing both Gobber and Fishlegs forced him to get some sleep beforehand otherwise he might end up as some dragons lunch.

He watched from a nearby tree as Vikings and dragons collided with each other, one stealing the food the other defending it.

With both groups focused on each other, Hiccup found no problem sneaking around the houses, avoiding any contact with his former villagers who were all too busy fighting to notice him anyway.

He did notice however his father barking orders around to the others about capturing what dragons.

Hiccup remembered how he wanted to be like him and the others, taking down dragons and making his people proud.

He even ranked them by what status he would get from them.

The Nadder would get him noticed, the Gronkle would definitely get him a girlfriend, Zippleback would double his status and the Monstrous Nightmare would make him one of the 'true Vikings'.

But the ultimate prize would be the dragon that no one has ever seen and lived to tell about it, from what he heard, and that would be...

"Night Fury!"

"Get down!"

Boom!

Hiccup watches as one of the large catapults is blown clean away by the Night Fury's powerful blasts.

He always said he'll be the one to take it down and make his father proud of him.

But that was before he was banished and couldn't give a yak's arse about making the village or his father proud of him. As for getting a girlfriend from taking down a Gronkle, he got a good chance of kissing the dragon itself then getting on.

It was then Hiccup remembered why he was risking his neck out here as he sneaks around before reach the Hofferson home as he carefully climbed up into Astrid window to find the axe.

Lucky for him because of the fires outside, he had enough light to see where he was going, finding the axe that was on the floor, having been knocked in Astrid hasty retreat to the hall by her parents.

As he was examining the broken head however, he realized it was a bit too warm in there as he started to sweat, as he lowered the axe from his face, he saw that the ceiling was on fire and quickly spreading, he ran to the window only to see it blocked by flames, he ran to the door which too was starting to catch fire, but gave him enough time to burst through it as the solid door smashed open but at a cost.

His right shoulder was dislocated, laying limp at the side of him causing him immense amount of pain.

With the flame engulfing him too he knew he didn't have long to live if he stayed here in the smoke filled air, what he didn't count upon was the floor collapsing underneath him as he falls down to the ground floor landing on his left leg with a crunch, breaking it in the process.

At this point Hiccup could barely move even with the axe firmly secured onto his back, he couldn't get out with one good working leg and arm.

And with the air getting thick with smoke, he knew he didn't have long before he perished, so did the only thing he could do.

Cry, he didn't want to end like this, he want to die on his own terms.

Soon his crying died down as he barely had any air left to breathe, his eyes were slowly shutting as he thought of one positive thought.

He was going to see his mom once again.

And with that passed out, giving the flames permission to take him fully.

Boom!

One of the house walls shattered into a thousand pieces as a black blur came in and grabbed the unconscious boy in his front paws as he zoomed off again before the other Vikings knew what was going on.

Hiccup slowly opened his right eye, as he felt wind blowing in his hair and wanted to know what was going on.

Was he dead?

No he was feeling pain, dead people don't feel pain or the cold.

He looked down to see he was flying over the forest away from the village.

"W-what?" he said weakly barely able to produce a whisper as he looked in shock at who was carrying.

The black scales gave it away as the Night Fury as it looked a down at the boy with a concerned look just as Hiccup passed out again.

The Night Fury itself was concerned for the boy, concern, something the young dragon hadn't felt in five years, ever since he wondered too far from his families nest and into the jaws of that evil witch of a dragon.

For all that time he couldn't feel compassion or remorse, only thing he could ever think of was serving that glutinous queen.

But hearing that boy cry snapped him out so easily, which was strange seeing as the amount of times he heard a human youngling and it didn't effect him one bit.

But this one, this one snapped him out so easily.

He had to find out why.

But first he needed somewhere to land so he could take a proper look at this small youngling he rescued.

The question was where?

That's when he spotted the cove right in front of him but also spotted the buildings that was there too.

'Was it safe to land there?' he thought to himself.

But taking a sniff of the area it had a couple of faint smell of other humans, but the strongest one smelt very much like the boy he was holding, minus the smoky smell of course.

So, making his mind up, his carefully landed in the cover, dropping the boy onto a large pile of grass, as he could take a look at the boy he was carrying.

He was smaller than he expected, he'd seen Vikings, even younglings and non of them were as small as this boy here, and from smelling the cove around him realized that this boy was alone here.

'Who would leave a boy like this all alone in the forest?'

But as the Night Fury was thinking about that for over an hour, the boy in question started to stir, bringing the Night Fury out of his own thoughts as he watched Hiccup slowly start to wake with concern.

Hiccup felt like hell as he tried to get up, his head was spinning, his throat felt like it was on fire and he had tremendous pain around his body, mainly from his broken leg, dislocated shoulder and his back where he fell onto a pile of wood.

He tried to open his eyes but due to the smoke in them from earlier, he could feel them sting.

He needed water and soon, as he realized when he tried to speak and his voice sounded hoarse and groggy like he hadn't had a drink in days.

He knew water was essential when it came to survival as it said in the book about how the body can live without food for over a week but needed water within days.

The Night Fury seemed to know what the boy needed however as he saw the lake nearby.

But how can the boy get to it?

He was in pain and could barely move.

He could carry him to the lake but he didn't want to agitate the pain even further.

Humans were not like dragons, they needed their limbs for survival, they can't rely on their tiny mouths to do all the heavy work.

So he would have to find a way to get water to the boy.

But how?

He looked around for anything that he could use to carry water in when he spotted something near the forge.

An empty wooden bucket.

The dragon walked over to it, picking it up by the handle carefully with his mouth as he went to the lake dunking the bucket into the water, filling it up.

He was wondering why he was doing this.

The boy might have been in danger but, was still a human, he saw a lot during his enslavement where they would use dragons in big stone structures to train their young how to kill them, even witnessing the slaughter of a few of them as the younglings right of passage.

So why did he care about this one boy?

It made no sense to him.

But he made it clear to himself, once he knew the boy will be alright, he would be gone. He'll fly away from this awful place and away from the queens control.

Although he had to admit this place looked beautiful and could understand why the boys scent was all around.

Hiccup meanwhile was contemplating in his head on how stupid and crazy his plan was.

All he wanted to do was get that Thor forsaken axe, he thought he could just go in there, get it and get out with no trouble.

Guess even the brain can't help out in a dangerous situation like this.

Suddenly he heard a thud, like something was dropped right in front of him.

He opened his eyes slightly to see someone had dropped a bucket of water right in front of him.

He wasted no time in using his good hand to cup some water and quickly place it on his mouth as he took sip after sip of the clear liquid.

It was like sheer nectar to the boys throat.

Once his thirst was quenched, he proceeded the wash his face, especially his eyes, of any smoke residue.

Once that was done he was able to slowly open his eyes without any pain as he looked from the bucket of now dirty water, to all around him as he realized he was back in the cove.

"H-how did I get back here?" he said to no one in particular as he carried on looking around until he came face to face with a pair of dragonic acid green eyes which made him back off to his own regret, remembering that half his body was still in pain as the dragon looked on curiously with big dilated eyes.

Hiccup was wondering why the dragon hadn't killed him yet, didn't Gobber say dragons always go for the kill?

So why didn't this one?

And from the appearance and scale he would have to guess this was a Night Fury which made it even more confusing for Hiccup.

He recalled the whole fire event, he closed his eyes as to let the flames engulf him, but heard a blast and something grab him, he remembered the feeling of heat on minute then the cold breeze the next.

That dragon was there.

Now he was even more confused. Did this dragon, a Night Fury, save him from being burnt to death.

But that thought was halted as he saw the dragon come close to him, sniffing as his injuries before grabbing Hiccup's right hand in his gummy mouth, frightening the boy in question wondering if the dragon was going to eat him.

At this point he was helpless and could barely fight back.

Suddenly...

Pop!

Hiccup felt a huge surge of pain run through his right shoulder as the dragon pulled on the limb as Hiccup managed to retract hid hand from the dragons mouth before he realized something.

He could move his right arm, and the pain was subsiding as Hiccup looked at his shoulder first before looking at the dragon.

Did this dragon just pop his shoulder back into place?

Hiccup was about to thank the dragon but noticed the wasn't done yet as he started to claw away a the left trouser leg trying to expose the flesh underneath.

Again Hiccup was scared but this time curious.

'What is this dragon up to?' he was thinking to himself as he saw something he couldn't have unseen ever.

The dragon started to lick the injured leg entirely, coating it in a thick fish smelling saliva.

At this Hiccup was no longer scared, he was grossed out.

But then he started to realise the pain in his leg was subsiding, just like his shoulder.

What was in that saliva to do that.

At this point Hiccup could stand up with out too much pain as he stared at the dragon in question, both looking into each others eyes, like either of them were looking into each others soul.

"Thank you" whispered sincerely to the dragon as he gave a toothy smile to his surprise the Night Fury did the same giving him a gummy smile instead.

"Huh Toothless? I could have sword you had..."

But then the dragon spotted something on the boys back he didn't see earlier, the axe, and this made a set of razor sharp teeth suddenly pop into his mouth while he snarled.

This confused Hiccup as he finished his sentence.

"...teeth" by now Hiccup was wondering what changed the dragons attitude all of a sudden until he saw it himself.

The axe was still on his back.

He was grateful that he managed to hold on to it so that risking his life wasn't all for nothing, he did realize that animal instincts would trigger at anything that was a sign of threat, and the axe was the threat.

"Oh no no no no" he said quickly as he reached for the axe on his back and threw it away as well as the knife in his pocket.

The Night Fury sniffed the air around Hiccup before his thin slighted eyes went back to dilated.

'Smart dragon' Hiccup thought to himself seeing the dragons mood change from one to the other so quickly.

Suddenly Hiccup could hear a growl and looked directly at the Night Fury as to why he was growling.

It happened again and Hiccup realized it wasn't coming from the dragons mouth, but his stomach.

He guessed the dragon must be hungry.

Hiccup could only smirk despite the situation he was in.

"Hungry boy?" he asked the dragon who bowed his head in embarrassment at showing weakness.

He then lifted his head in confusions as the boy limped over to one of the barrels near one of the buildings as he opened one up to reveal a nice large Icelandic cod, the dragons favourite, besides salmon. The boy then limped back to the dragon as the dragon in question closed the gap by moving forwards.

Hiccup held out the cod in his hands as the dragon sniffed it at first before grabbing for it as he swallowed it whole, much to Hiccups disgust.

Suddenly Hiccup was taken aback as the unholy offspring of lightening and death itself started to purr at the boy which got him even more curious.

He never knew dragons could purr.

He tried to reach up to touch the dragons snout but was halted as the dragon still didn't trust him yet and flew away onto the other side of the cove to rest.

Hiccup was a little down heartened but could understand the dragon for that, he would have trust issue too with someone he just met.

So he sat there as he picked up a stick in his hands and started to draw in the dirt before he too fell asleep where he sat.

When he finally woke up a few hours later, he noticed that he was shrouded in darkness and yet he felt warm.

He also noticed something stirring next to him as the darkness lifted up to the now blinding sunlight, indicating that it was day time as he looked around to see that the dark shroud was in fact a pair of black leathery wings attached to the Night Fury from earlier.

'Did the Night Fury keep me warm all night long?' he thought himself, he was even more confused than he was earlier.

Not only did this dragon, the one the book of dragons said to hide and prey it doesn't find you, not kill him, he saved him from certain death, gave him water, fixed his shoulder and leg and even kept him warm during the night.

Everything he knew, no what the Vikings ever knew, about dragons must be wrong.

The dragon then looked from the boy to the drawings on the ground, one that peaked his interest was the one of him.

It looked fun to do and so ran off to find a stick of his own.

While this was happening Hiccup was still lost in his own thoughts until he heard a snapping of wood which brought him back to reality as he watch the Night Fury start to move a small tree through the dirt, causing grooves in the ground.

Hiccup wondered what the dragon was up to as the pattern seem to have no visible meaning, until he came to the conclusion that the dragon was doing what he did earlier.

He was drawing.

The Night Fury moved about from left to right all around Hiccup until he finally stopped and got up on a nearby rock to admire his work as Hiccup looked around too to see the odd drawing, he wanted to get a better look himself so wanted to do that himself and see it from a higher point.

Unfortunately he accidentally stepped on one of the lines, making the dragon growl that his masterpiece was being ruined, Hiccup realized this and quickly lifted his foot up make the dragon purr again.

Hiccup started to get curious at how the dragon had feelings again something he was told they didn't have.

He stepped on the line again, the dragon growled, lifted it up, the dragon purred, down, growl, up, purr.

Hiccup smiled as he regained his balance as he stepped over the line, avoiding the other ones in a sort of dance, making his way to the end of the drawing.

Until he hit something solid, he looked up to see the Night Fury look at him as he looked back.

He tried to reach out but the Night Fury growled again, still not trusting him.

Hiccup sighed but tried a different approach to earning the dragons trust.

He closed his eyes, looked away and held out his hand in front of him, showing that he trusted the dragon not to hurt him.

It was crazy, many would say it's stupid, but when has that ever stopped Hiccup before?

Suddenly Hiccup could feel warm scales upon his palm as he opened his eyes and looked to see the dragons large snout pressed against his outstretched hand.

Hiccup smiled, the dragon trusted him too.

But before he could interact any more he heard his name called out in a state of panic.

He knew the voice belonged to Gobber and was worried for his new friends safety.

The dragon could sense this too as he took off into the forest above as Hiccup watch him go hoping he would come back soon as he whispered and waved at the disappearing Night Fury.

"I'll see you around, and thank you once again..." he paused as he smiled at the name he thought of giving the dragon if he ever came back.

"...Toothless"

 **Yay! We finally get Toothless and so early from the first movie, I wonder how that'll effect Hiccup in that way? Also did anyone catch what Tuffnut said? Not the fleas having a light your fart competition, but Muspelheim, it is one of the nine realms of Norse mythology, the realm of fire.**


	7. Chapter 7- Flights and gifts

_**Hi I'm supersandyman I like long walks off a short pier, and ponies saying hi to all my fellow bronies out th...**_

 **Wade! Get lost before I kick your teeth in!**

 ***Sigh* Sorry about that guys and gals, I got hacked by some weirdo in a red and black spandex.**

 **Anyway as I was saying...**

 _ ***Knock knock knock* hey I see you readers out there *looks closer* theres a guy sat in his underwear eating doritos, and he's not sharing.**_

 **Wade! Bugger off**

 _ **Okay okay i'm gone, party pooper.**_

 **Anyway...like i was saying hello my fellow readers and wow over 250 followers, i'm quite touched.**

 **And thank you for your patience, had a few things to sort out with work and stuff at home.**

 _ **Oh you mean where you played minecraft again?**_

 **Wade, what are you still doing here?**

 _ **The pleasure of course, i head there was going to be some boobs.**_

 ***Facepalm* not in my story so bugger off!**

 **Excuse me lads and lasses I've just got to take out the trash. Anyway enjoy.**

 **Chapter 7- Flights and gifts**

Hiccup couldn't believe his luck.

He was sure when the Night Fury, who he named Toothless for some bizarre reason, flew away that he would never see that dragon ever again.

So a bit sad, and still in some pain from the burning house, Hiccup turned to see a frightened Gobber hobbling as fast as he could towards the boy.

To say he was a one legged Viking, he sure could run fast.

Hiccup was a little baffled at first as to why Gobber was rushing all the way to him like that in the early hours of the morning until he remembered one important detail.

He told the old blacksmith of his plan to grab Astrid axe from her house during the raid.

So after the house caught fire and started to collapse, Gobber was first on the scene, putting out the fire and searching through the burnt remains for the young boys body.

Lucky enough he wasn't in there.

As soon as the raid was over a few hours later, despite the protests from the villagers, raced into the forest and towards the cove shouting Hiccups name over and over again.

But no reply which worried him a lot.

His worry however turned to relief when he saw Hiccup standing near his forge, battered, bruised and looking a little sooty from the fire, but all in all still there.

He first embraced the lad in a bone crunching hug before scolding him about doing something as stupid as that just for a weapon.

He wasn't scolding him out of disappointment Hiccup knew.

He was scolding him out of worry.

Hiccup knew it was a stupid plan.

He knew it was totally crazy.

And if was being honest, he underestimated the house catching fire.

But he could only smile as he looked at the weapon resting against the forge door.

He first phase of his plan was complete.

He got the axe.

Now all he had to do was make it look brand new.

And with the new information Gobber gave him about the situation with the Hofferson house burning down, it also gave him plenty of time to give his full attention to it.

But still his mind was having other ideas.

Did he really befriend a dragon?

An answer he got that very same night as he set all his defences up only to hear the sound of large wings flapping behind him.

As he turned around he couldn't believe his eyes.

The Night Fury was back.

He didn't understand why?

Did the dragon finally decide to end his life?

But then why save him from that house fire when he could have let the flames do the job.

Why didn't he kill him when he was unconscious in the cove for hours.

And most the biggest question going through young Hiccups head was how in the name of Valhalla did he know this dragon was a he?

While was going on, the Night Fury had time to get up close to the boy, just like that morning, as Hiccup came out of his thoughts only to look directly into the acid green eyes of the dragon.

Hiccup gulped, prepared for his end.

But what he didn't expect was for the unholy offspring of lightening and death itself to start licking the boy affectionately like an overgrown puppy, happy to see it master.

By the time the Night Fury had stopped this, he was looking at the boy, who at this point was on the ground covered from head to toe in dragon saliva.

"Eww!" was all he could say as he tried to wipe the saliva off his face with no such luck so decided to get up and hobble over to the lake to try and wash it out.

But as he got up and moved, he realized something.

He wasn't hobbling.

In fact he didn't feel any pain at all.

As he ran over to the edge of the lake to look at his reflection in the water he was even more stunned.

All the bruising from when he fell, all the scorch marks he earned, gone.

He lifted up his sleeves to his shirt to check the bruising there and found his arms to be completely smooth.

No bruising.

No damage whatsoever.

Even his old scars, the ones he had for years from his self harming, gone.

It was then it hit him as he looked at an innocent looking dragon just sitting there looking curiously at him.

Night Fury saliva has incredible healing properties.

"Wait! He healed me?" he said to himself before looking at the dragon again as he slowly walked up to him.

Hiccup was cautious remembering the last time he approached the dragon.

But the Night Fury never growled this time.

In fact he didn't even look hostile, the only sound that came from him was a cooing sound as he was the boy approach him.

Eventually Hiccup got close enough to him as they both looked into each others eyes.

A scene very strange to anyone watching.

Two species, who should be enemies of a war that had been going on for three centuries, and yet here they were, neither of them showing any sign of hostility but understanding.

Suddenly Hiccup took caution to the wind and wrapped his arms around the dragons slender neck as he started to cry.

Neither understood why he did it, he just wanted to.

Maybe it was the feeling that Hiccup had never been shown by anyone who barely knew him.

Compassion.

This Night Fury had only knew him for less than a day and yet managed to wipe away years of physical damage done to the boy in a matter of seconds.

"Th-thank you Toothless, thank you" Hiccup whimpered as he called the dragon the name he gave him the last time they met taking the dragon by surprise.

Toothless didn't know what to think, the red death wiped most of his memories when he was captured by her, including his name.

At the nest he was simply called Night Fur, since he was the only one of his kind in the nest.

But this boy, who he saved, decided to give him a name that sounded so bizarre, so stupid, so insulting...

...that he actually liked it.

He didn't know why but he liked it.

He even liked this boy, he didn't understand why.

Was it because he broke the hold the queen had on him so easily?

Who knows.

But what he can see, no, what he can feel right now is this boys pain.

Not the physical pain he just healed through his saliva but the emotional pain embedded inside the boy.

You see Night Furies have a unique ability that makes them sense things that no other dragon can sense.

Sure Nadders have the best tracking sense and Gronkle have a unique ability to resist dragon root but when it comes to the psychological senses, his own kind top it all.

And right now he can feel the boys sadness, he had a feeling this boy was alone from the scent in the cove but he never knew how deep that aloneness travelled.

And at such a young age too.

Of course Toothless knew that feeling too well.

No dragon at the nest ever wanted to come near him.

He was different.

The odd one out among thousands.

But no more, he was free, free from the queens control and he refuses to allow her to control him ever again!

He then looked to the boy who had let go of his neck only to look at him with a smile which warmed the dragons heart.

It was then and there he was about to do the most stupidest thing ever.

He lowered his head and shoved it between the boys scrawny legs as he lift his head back up, making the boy slide down his neck and onto his back.

Hiccup didn't know what to make of it or what the dragon was doing until he heard Toothless bark as he unfolded his wings.

It was then he knew what was going to happen.

Toothless was going to fly...with him on his back.

Hiccup held on to the dragons neck for dear life as Toothless shot up into the sky with a screaming Hiccup holding on to his neck.

Higher and higher into the night sky, shooting straight up like an arrow before levelling off above the clouds.

Hiccup meanwhile had his eyes closed throughout the ascending flight before opening back up feeling themselves not flying any higher only to see the most amazing thing he ever thought possible.

A beautiful night sky with stars twinkling all around the large bright moon with the clouds below them.

Hiccup never thought he'd see anything like this not unless he died.

But he was very much alive and he felt the cool breeze of the night air blow around him as he smiled.

"So this is what its like to fly?" he said as Toothless crooned in agreement.

He didn't know it at first but his arms were off Toothless' neck and extended to each side like wings.

But he didn't care if he wasn't safely secured, all this time Toothless never let him fall.

This went on for hours as the pair flew all around the nearby islands and sea stacks, even once around the lit village of Berk.

It was a sight he never wanted to let go.

For once in a very long time, all the anger, all the hurt...

..gone

He was truly happy.

That was until they touched down back in the cove meaning the flight was over which saddened him a little, but seeing Toothless start to get comfortable as he started to scorch the ground around him before clawing the ground as he laid down and fell asleep, Hiccup knew there and then that he wanted to feel like that everyday as he limped to his home to rest after bidding Toothless good night.

He also realized as well that if was going to endure hours of riding, he'll need to make a saddle to sit on.

Fore at that moment Hiccup literally had a pain in the posterior.

 **Several weeks later**

While Hiccup was enjoying his new found past time of dragon riding, and wondering why the Viking haven't thought to do this sooner, in the village, a certain individual was walking around with her head down.

Astrid was depressed.

She had been for several weeks since the fire that took her home.

Sure they rebuilt it and replaced everything that was lost.

All except the axe that was once her uncle Finn's.

Everyday she wondered why hadn't she just picked it on their way to the hall then she would still have it today.

But she suspected that since it was no where to be found that it was destroyed with the rest of her possessions.

Her family were worried for her, even the promise of a new axe didn't help out at all.

No axe could replace what she held dear to her and never will.

Not even with the upcoming annual holiday, Snoggletog.

Yes the traditional festive holiday to which Berk and the rest of the Archipelago celebrate where for a few weeks of the year, people celebrate with their friends and family as well as exchanging gifts.

And the best thing of all, no dragon attacks, something that has happened every year since the first Viking settled on the island.

But she wasn't in the festive mood, not for a while.

Her nightmares did stop for a while thanks to Hiccup coming in every night and singing to her without her knowing but even he couldn't do that all night long and she seemed to be in her depression so much that she would stay awake thinking about it, making it impossible for Hiccup to help her that way.

He knew what was causing her depression, Gobber told him.

Her uncles axe.

At first Hiccup thought it was due to her guilt for not grabbing it but somehow deep down, it was her protection from them.

Hiccup had read up about far away tribes that used things called dream catchers to help with the nightmares so in a way the axe was her own form of one.

He knew what he had to do.

Meanwhile Astrid wasn't the only one feeling down.

Stoick was too since this would be the first Snoggletog with his son banished and wondered how he'll cope by himself.

Sure even when he was there during the celebrations but he usually sat in the corner away from everyone, most likely because the villagers wanted him there in case he cause anymore chaos.

But still he was there.

Stoick sighs as he watches the rest of the villagers prepare for the holiday.

And more annoyingly enough, Mildew.

As much as Stoick hated the cranky old fart and despite him banishing him from the village too, he was allowed to come once a week.

And why?

Because he owns the Thor forsaken cabbage farming rights.

He had no choice in accepting that loophole.

Although he has warned him to keep his wrinkled old mouth from causing anymore protests or starting an uprising otherwise he'll get Stoicks famous teeth-removal punch for his troubles, that was a promise.

And a promise he was happy to remind Mildew of.

But with all that, it still got him thinking about Hiccup again, all alone on Snoggletog.

Until he had an idea.

If Mildew was able to get into the village even after his banishment so can his son.

After all it was Hiccup who saved them from an outcast ambush, he earn t his right to come into the village too.

And with that ran off to the forge to tell Gobber of the plan.

Gobber meanwhile was busy getting the last of his orders sorted out before the holidays started as Stoick walked in as he knocked on the wall to get the blacksmiths attention.

He didn't want to startle him or risk getting an axe to the head.

Again.

"Oh hello chief, wha' brings ya to the forge?" Gobber greeted, knowing who had walked in mere seconds ago.

Stoick, for once in a very long time was nervous, he knew Gobber deep down was still mad at him for not only Hiccups banishment but also for forgetting his birthday.

And Stoick didn't blame him, he was a bad father, but he couldn't see him on his own for the holidays in the forest.

He needed to do this.

"Hi Gobber, working on some weapons?" he asked trying to start a conversation before telling him about his plan.

"Tha's right, don't want ta get backlogged..." he replied, but put his hammer down as he turn to look at the chief "okay, Stoick, what's up now?" he said in a dull tone of voice, the kind that he used when something was amiss.

Stoick was wide eyed, did Gobber know what he was about to ask or was he simply guessing.

"I know when ya want te ask me something, you never ask abou' the weapons" he now crossed his arms as he raised one eyebrow "so enough of the small talk, what do ya want Stoick"

Stoick was about to protest but thought better of it as he sighed before explaining his idea to him.

After hearing his plan, Gobber raised an eyebrow at his chief's idea.

If he could put it lightly he would, the plan was stupid and dangerous.

But, despite all that, it was an idea, one that he hoped Hiccup would take on board.

He did miss the boy in his forge, I was nice to talk to someone who had the same interests in blacksmithing like he did.

"Okay Stoick, I'll give it a go with your idea, after all, I do want the lad to enjoy some fun over the holidays" he said before muttering under his breath "even if he never got a chance to partake in any"

Fortunately for him Stoick was already walking out of the forge as he said that, satisfied that Gobber would go with his plan.

Gobber merely shrugged as he carried on with his orders.

"Ahh who knows, maybe Hiccup will go with the idea and say yes..."

 **A couple of days later at the cove**

"...No" Hiccup simply put it as he was chopping up a log for his winter pile when Gobber told him about coming back to the village for Snoggletog.

"Come on Hiccup, ya can enjoy yerself among people" Hiccup didn't even look at him as he gave his retort.

"You mean the one's who voted to banish me in the first place?" he said calmly as he placed another log in position before swinging his axe down again.

"Plus its under chiefs orders fer you te come" Gobber said hoping it would make him change his mind, but knew it wouldn't as he saw Hiccup slam the axe in the log so hard, it sliced through the wood like a hot knife through yak butter before being embedded in the stone slab underneath as Hiccup turned and glared at Gobber.

"If I remember correctly by law of the Hairy Hooligan tribe, once someone is banished, whether it be, from the village or the island itself, they are no longer in the tribe and thus the chiefs orders are invalid until such time the banishment is decided upon after five years" Hiccup said as he walked towards the lake casually as he finished off his sentence.

"In other words, no, no and double no!" he shouted as Gobber stood there and sighed.

He knew Hiccup was right.

He knew Hiccup had read every book that ever came his way, including that on the laws of the tribe.

After all he was the heir and needed to know this stuff for the future.

Shame his father never saw Hiccup like that.

But with that plan going straight down the crapper like that, just as Gobber thought it would, he had another idea and this one he needed to try, more for his own sake than Stoick's.

"Okay lad, I'll lay it out fer ya, I wouln' ask fer the villagers sake or even Stoick's after all tha's happened, but in truth I was hoping ye would come to the village fer Snoggletog fer me and fer Fishlegs"

The sentence actually made Hiccup stop his washing up as he knelt by the lake edge.

That plan changed in his mind so easily.

He knew Gobber and Fishlegs did care for him, in fact it hadn't been the first time they were trying to ask him to come to the village.

But Hiccup didn't want to be in a place where he wasn't wanted.

Still he thought about, even though Snoggletog lasted for well over a week the main celebrations only lasted the one day.

Surely he can survive one day in a village full of people to hate him.

It's not like he can't defend himself now.

And as he looked over at the forge, having his eye on the gleaming axe that laid in the corner waiting for its final repairs to be made.

This gave him an idea as he turned towards Gobber who was waiting for an answer.

"Okay Gobber" Hiccup sighed, giving a look of defeat before turning stern as he pointed his finger at the old blacksmith.

"But...for one day, one celebration in the great hall and that's it" he stated as Gobber smiled and nodded while Hiccup went back to washing up.

A few hours passed after that with Hiccup helping Gobber out with a few of his orders while they talked about how things have been for them the past week with Snoggletog preparations, the people in the village to the many things Hiccup had come up with in his head to improve his life, but in all this Hiccup wanted to ask one question that had been plaguing him for a bit now but never had the nerve to ask.

He needed to find out though and now seemed to be right for him.

He takes a deep breath as he just comes out with what he wanted to say.

"So hows Astrid doing?"

This took the old blacksmith by surprise, nearly landing the hammer on his remaining hand, as he looked at the boy questionably with a raised eyebrow.

"Come again?" he asked not believing what he heard.

Hiccup just rolls his eyes before repeating himself.

"I said how is Astrid doing?"

Gobber still didn't understand why he was asking about her, sure he took the axe from her house to repair it and comforted her during her nightmares but now he was asking like he was concerned.

'Maybe he hasn't gotten over her' he thought to himself as he realized he had been stood there without giving Hiccup an answer to his question.

Gobber sighs as he recalls about Astrid state.

"She's... not doin' too good lad" Hiccup raised his eyebrow at that as Gobber carried on.

"She assumes her uncles axe perished in the fire and now feels, in a way, useless Hiccup fer not taking it with her during that raid" he looked from his work on the table to look at Hiccup with a serious face "she's givin' up Hiccup"

Hiccup was taken back from that.

Astrid Giving up?

Hiccup shook his head, that doesn't sound like the Astrid he knew.

But saying that before he was banished, she wasn't the Astrid he remembered in their youth.

The one he knew was Happy, fun loving, she loved to explore like he did and to train.

Not for honour.

But for the pleasure of it.

Then the whole Flightmare incident occurred and not only did she start being serious with her training but stopped hanging around with Hiccup all together.

He wouldn't mind getting that girl back but it would be a long shot.

However, bringing back her confidence could be a start.

And repairing the assumed destroyed axe should do that.

So after after Gobber left the cove and it was safe for Hiccup black scaled friend to come out of hiding, he knew what he needed to do first off.

Repair the axe to it's former glory.

However, even though Hiccup is a good blacksmith, he isn't as good as Gobbers years of experience and even he couldn't repair it without replacing the axe all together.

But Hiccup had several things Gobber never had to fix it.

Time, vast imagination and a fire-breathing dragon whose fire could heat up metal easily.

Although from what Hiccup had seen on one of his flights south of Berk where a family of Nadders resided.

In all that time Hiccup witnessed not only how calm the dragons were, solidifying his beliefs that dragons aren't mindless creatures but the Nadders in particular have a fire so hot it melted a large boulder right down into a pool of molten rock before cooling down enough for them to lay down on.

While Hiccup was watching family as he smiled warmly, he didn't know one of the younglings was walking up to him curiously until he heard Toothless growl behind him making him turn around.

Hiccup calmed the over protective dragon down before having an idea about the curious Nadder as he calmly walked up to it, closing the gap between them before putting his palm onto its beak like snout, smiling as he feels the rumbling sound coming from the Nadder.

Soon all the whole family came close to him, wondering why their youngling had wondered off too and why they were near a human so calmly but seeing both young Nadder and Night Fury look so peaceful next to the small human, they immediately accepted him.

Something Hiccup wasn't expecting.

Hiccup comes out of his thoughts from that day and realized a way to fix the axe.

Nadder fire.

If it could melt a large boulder, surely it can wield a piece of metal enough to repair it.

Hiccup grabs hold of the axe, wraps it up and straps it to his back as well as his hammer small anvil and a bag of iron nuggets before heading over to his scaly friend before scratching behind his ear plates making the black dragon purr with delight as Hiccup just smiled.

"Hey bud, you had a nice day?" he said with a calm voice as Toothless smiled and nodded to his question.

Hiccup had come to know over the weeks that Toothless was highly intelligent , able to understand Norse very easily.

Hiccup wished he could understand him too.

'Maybe someday' he thought to himself as Toothless looked at him curiously, or more importantly the covered axe strapped to his back.

Hiccup came out of his thoughts to see Toothless eyeing up the axe and knew Toothless knew what it was before rubbing his friend head, reassuring him that its not going to be used on him or any other dragon.

Hiccup then explains his plan to Toothless about getting it repaired, the said dragon was reluctant to do so at first until he remembered that he trusted Hiccup, so nodded as Hiccup strapped the saddle on him.

Something Hiccup worked on, going through many plans, ones where the saddle was secure enough but was also comfortable for Toothless.

Several tries and Hiccup finally found the right balance.

Once the saddle was secured, Hiccup jumped on and they were off to where the Nadders resided, hoping they haven't taken off yet.

Something else Hiccup had been informed about by Gobber and Fishlegs where there had been no raids for several week, just like every year and it made Hiccup wonder if it affected all the dragons and not just the raiding ones.

But as the got closer they saw some of the elder Nadders started to fly off away from where they lived and out of the distance.

However as soon as they landed at their nest, they saw that several Nadders remained, which consisted of the younglings and a few older Nadders.

This got Hiccup curious as to why the adults were the only ones that left but not the young and old, including the one Hiccup was familiar with, the first one to come near him.

The Nadder he named Moonlight due to her silver and blue scales that reminded him of the shiny orb in the night sky.

After a few greeting and scratches underneath the scales, he asked if he could use her fire to help with something.

Nadders aren't as smart as Night Furies but they do posses a level of intelligence Hiccup assumed as he carefully laid the axe onto the ground before removing the cover, revealing it.

Straight away the Nadders backed away from the weapon, fearing their lives until Toothless started to roar at them, by Hiccups guess he was informing them to trust Hiccup that he won't hurt them.

It was confirmed as Moonlight came back to Hiccup before nuzzling him making him smile again.

It took several tries for Hiccup to get her to understand what he wanted to do, but eventually he was underway as Moonlight blasted the damaged pieces of the axe head with her powerful flame while Hiccup went along each heated up part, hammering away while he place small pieces of iron into the cracks as the Nadder went over them again, melting the pieces until the completely filled the cracks as he moved on to the bladed ends seeing how worn out they were from years of constant sharpening.

While all this was happening, all the other Nadders, including the older ones, watched with interest how this small human was so calm among dragons, even the Night Fury which even most dragons are scared of.

But here he was, not only was he not attacking the boy or their youngling but he seemed to be protecting them, watching over them like a big brother.

Something the older dragons haven't experienced from this sort of interaction since their youth with another young human female child from the same Island decades ago.

In fact the boy looked very similar to her and wondered if this was her offspring.

As they were thinking about that, Hiccup was putting the final repairs to the axe head as he picked it up and looked at it more closely, satisfied with his work, he smiled and re-wrapped it back it, ready to do the refurbishing back at his forge.

But right now he could see that the sun was setting and wanted to get one last flight in before heading home to sleep.

With that he wave all the Nadders goodbye, including a sad looking Moonlight whom Hiccup hugged as a thank you for her help, earning an affectionate lick from her before he jumped onto Toothless and took off into the pink sky, indicating the sun was setting.

A sight Hiccup always loved to see each time he was up here.

Every time he wondered the same thing over and over again.

Why hadn't we done this way beforehand?

 **Several days later**

Hiccup had finished off all his work on the axes and informed Toothless about him being invited to the annual celebrations which saddened the Night Fury since he couldn't join his human brother there due to all the dragon hating Vikings.

He would spend the entire day relaxing in the cove and occasionally flying about while Hiccup is away.

Hiccup wished he could stay too but he promised Gobber he'd be there.

And he never broke a promise.

He sighed before picking up the axe which was covered up in a wrapped up cloth, as well as his new furred jacket he made when a timber wolf tried to attack him on one of his usual gatherings but didn't stand a chance when Toothless swooped in, smashing the large wolf into a nearby tree, killing it instantly.

Hiccup didn't want it to go to waste, so skinned the wolf, giving some of the meat to Toothless as a thank you to which the Night Fury happily tucked into while Hiccup took the rest back home to make the furred jacket he is wearing right now.

The wolf had a mixed colour of grey and black which look very well upon Hiccups small frame as he wrapped it all the way around him, covering his whole body and keeping him warm during the snowy weather as he travelled from the cove to the village.

He could have asked Toothless to drop him off halfway but didn't want to risk people seeing his scaly friend and informing the chief about it.

He would do anything to keep Toothless safe.

Even if it meant walking for several hours in the cold biting weather to do so.

But after what seemed like forever, he made it towards the forest edge which connected right up to the village.

Hiccup watch all the hustle and bustle of people who were getting the last minute preparations set for the celebrations tonight.

Sighing, he started to walk through the village, avoiding the constant stares from passers-bys, more likely wondering why he's here in the first place.

He continued to walk until he found the forge was still alight, meaning Gobber was still in.

Gobber was relaxing in his chair by the forges fire pit, drinking a large tankard of ale, finally relieved to have caught up with his work, mostly thanks to Hiccup on that.

He heard a knock on his door, moaning and grumbling about people not giving him five seconds to relax as he got up of his chair and slowly hobbled over to the door to give whoever it is a piece of his mind.

"Bugger off! If ya want somethin' fixin' come back in a few days time, shops closed fer the hol..." he stopped as he opened the door to reveal a smiling Hiccup covered in a wolf pelt.

"Well is that anyway to greet your old apprentice?" Hiccup replied turning his smile into a cheeky grin before suddenly being engulfed in a hug by the blacksmith himself.

"Gobber...air...need to...breathe" Hiccup wheezed as Gobber let him go before gesturing him to come in.

They spent only a few minutes there, mainly getting the forge shut down before heading towards the great hall with the rest.

Upon the way the both noticed the stares from the others and Gobber was about to yell at them before Hiccup place his hand on his arm, getting his attention.

"Don't Gobber, it's not worth it..." he was about to say a few more things until he was interrupted by a familiar old man who was blocking the entrance doors to the great hall.

"What are you doing here runt?" Mildew asked, catching the attention of others including Hiccup and Gobber.

Again Hiccup stopped Gobber from answering as he stepped forward.

"I'm here as a guest Mildew, otherwise I wouldn't be here in the first place" he replied back with an air of confidence, not backing down from the stares of everyone around him.

"Well you shouldn't be here!" Mildew yelled back getting a few nods from some as he carried on "you'll curse us all with your disaster making skills!" he then stepped forward getting close to Hiccups face, but still Hiccup didn't change his stoic emotion as he stared back.

"Stoick should have heeded my advice when you were born, he should have thrown you off the c..."

He was cut off as Hiccup gave him a full whack in the face before crouching down and sweeping his leg underneath Mildews, causing the old git to fall flat on his back onto the cold ground.

He tied to get up but halted as he noticed the pointed end of a sword was pressing against his throat, looking up only to see an angry looking Hiccup holding on to the sword as well as having his foot on the old man's chest causing everyone around to gasp in surprise.

"Your last warning, you old fart, last warning! Oh so please break it so I can slit your throat and watch you bleed out! I dare you! I double dare you mother-fucker!" Hiccup yelled as he watched Mildew just lay there stunned, unable to move from fear.

Hiccups scowl turned into a smirk as he removed his sword from the old git's throat before putting it away, never taking his eyes off him.

"That's what I thought..." he then calmly walked away to the doors as everyone parted to let him and Gobber through.

As soon as they were inside, he took a deep breath before smiling again "man that felt good" he said as he felt a hand upon his shoulder only to look up at a smiling Gobber which confused Hiccup, as he wondered if Gobber was upset that he threatened someone like that.

"I wish I could have done that myself Hiccup, that cranky old git has been askin' fer it fer a very long time"

Hiccup nodded in agreement as they looked around to all the Vikings staring at them again as the largest Viking at the end stood up holding his arms out.

Hiccup rolled his eyes recognizing him as his father whom silenced the hall as he started to shout.

"Welcome my fellow hooligans to another year of Snoggletog! A time for all to enjoy ourselves and to celebrate those who are not among us anymore!" many people were raising their fist in agreement while a few were still staring at Hiccup.

Mainly his fellow teens.

The twins were mesmerized by the wolf pelt he was wearing as well as the sword underneath while wondering if this was indeed Hiccup.

Snotlout was glaring at his cousin, still mad about the whole outcast thing still.

Fishlegs was with his family as they looked at him with a smile, they knew about Fishlegs and Hiccup being friends and by the way he always came home with a smile, they respected Hiccup for.

Astrid was also with her family, but she wasn't smiling nor glaring.

She simply looked at him with sadness.

She still hadn't told Gobber about it being Snotlout and the twins fault for the fire but since the fire at her house and losing her axe, she had no will to even want to talk to anyone.

As he continued to watch them all, Stoick was still carrying on.

"An I would like to welcome our guest for the celebration, Hiccup!" he gestured to the auburn haired boy as many people in the hall started to whisper, mainly with what happened outside.

Hiccup ignored them as he saw Stoick gesture for him to sit next to him on the large table.

Hiccup however shook his head making the large chief confused.

"With all due respect sir, I'd rather go to my usual spot here" he said calmly as he pointed to a dimly lit table right in the corner of the large room.

This was Hiccup spot for as long as he could remember.

Stoick looked confused as to why Hiccup would chose that over the large table, but didn't get a chance to retort as Hiccup made his way towards it.

Before he did however he spoke to Gobber about letting him sit there in his place instead to which the old blacksmith shrugged before respecting his wishes and hobbling up to the front, informing Stoick about Hiccup giving him his place as the celebration began to start with the sound of music and laugher echoing about the place.

Stoick however just slumped back and sighed, realizing that it'll be a hard task to get Hiccup to forgive him.

Meanwhile Astrid watch as Hiccup went to the dark corner of the hall wondering why he chose to sit there instead of at the main table with his father.

But as she looked to where he was sitting, she realized something.

That's where he always sat.

In the shadows, not wanting to be seen.

She started to feel guilty as she recalled that being where all three of them, her, Hiccup and Fishlegs used to sit as kids.

But she remembered it being brighter than that before.

So how come it looked so dark now?

Her conclusion came to that Hiccup did it himself so he could never be seen.

Did he really want to live among the shadows due to the villagers?

As she wondered that, she didn't notice Fishlegs walking towards Hiccup's table, causing him the genuinely smile.

She had to admit he had a cute smile, but realized that smile wasn't for her.

It was for Fishlegs, his friend.

Meanwhile Fishlegs sat down at Hiccups table as both held each other by the arm as a sign of their friendship.

"I'm glad you came Hic" Fishlegs said with a smile upon his face, he was worried in case Hiccup refused the invitation.

"Well a promise is a promise Fish" Hiccup replied back with his smile still upon his face.

He then noticed a book in his friend other arm before looking back at Fishlegs.

"Err what's with the book Fish?" he asked as Fishlegs looked down at his arm before lifting it, presenting the book to Hiccup which confused the boy.

"Happy Snoggletog Hic"

Hiccup's jaw dropped at what Fishlegs said as he carefully took the book from his extended hand and smiled.

For a couple of hours Hiccup and Fishlegs enjoyed each others company as they went through the book on bladesmithing, an art using similar metalworking techniques as that to blacksmith's, this book showed how it was used in different culture beyond the Nordic areas.

It fascinated Hiccup as he never saw making weapons or tools as an art.

Hiccup could do those sort of things himself, create fine weapons and armour that even the Dvergr's of Svartalfheim would be proud of.

But seeing all, these different cultures of smithing, Hiccup wanted to give it a go as he looked upon the Chinese swords known as the jian, he really wanted to try them out.

Norse swords were good but they were too bulky and mainly consisted of iron, well the one's in the archipelago were.

They couldn't make out all of the writing as it was mostly done in Chinese symbols but several words were in Anglo-Saxon to which they both understood due to many hours of reading they did in the cove and in the hall in their youth.

It appeared the jian were mainly crafted using bronze.

And that's where Hiccup might struggle.

Mostly everything on Berk was made of iron, some times copper.

So it means finding a good lot of exploring once the island thawed out for a good deposit of copper and hopefully tin.

As both he and Fishlegs were discussing the possibilities of making these things, they didn't notice Snotlout and the twins start walking towards their table until their book was snatch from them by the young Jorgenson causing Hiccup to stand up as he glared at him.

"Well look what we have here, our two former punching bags" Snotlout said with a grin on his face as he held the book in his hand as the other two grabbed hold of Hiccup by each arm so he could move.

Hiccup, instead of struggling, remained calm as he glared at his fatheaded cousin.

"What do you want Snotface" this wiped the smile off Snotlouts face as he started to glare back, throwing the book to the floor.

"You know what, I was going to wish you a very happy Snoggletog" he said sarcastically as the twins sniggered while Snotlout cracked his knuckles grinning evilly.

"But now I'm gonna teach you a lesson on respecting your superiors"

Astrid saw this and so did Gobber as both went over to stop before Hiccup got hurt, but suddenly stopped at what happened next.

Hiccup saw Fishlegs was in position behind the distracted twins as Snotlout was ready to punch him.

Within a millisecond, Hiccup had broken free of his captures but hitting them with his trapped arm right in their chests making them let go and stumble back only for them to have their helmets removed and their head smashed together by Fishlegs knocking them out.

Hiccup meanwhile had dodged Snotlouts fist before elbowing him in the stomach causing him to stumble backwards.

Snotlout try to go for another swing but missed by miles as Hiccup jumped and stomped in his foot causing Snotlout to hop in one spot.

But as he recovered he saw a fist collide with his face, causing to fall over and knock a few of his teeth out.

Trying to get back up he came across the same situation that happened outside with Snotlout pinned down and the sword pointing at his throat.

But unlike Mildew, Snotlout actually wet himself as he looked at Hiccup with fear in his eyes and disbelief.

How can his weed of a cousin knock him down now when he couldn't back when he was here.

Hiccup however was stoic the whole time as he pointed the sword at his cousin before retracting it away.

"You are never my superior and never will be. The day you become a good chief is the day Niflheim becomes a tropical paradise!"

"Same warning as Mildew, don't you regret it" he snarled before walking towards his table and started to gather his things.

Everyone was staring, completely stunned at Hiccups reaction.

But not as more stunned as Stoick, he just saw his son take on Spitelouts boy, the one people wanted him to train as the next chief but even Stoick knew that would be a bad idea due to the Jorgenson arrogance and stupid decisions.

Hiccup merely sighed as he picked up the fallen book and covered axe as he patted Fishlegs on the shoulder, thanking him for having his back as he made his way to the main table to greet his father and Gobber as Spitelout went to check on his son.

"I want to wish you a very happy Snoggletog, but I'm afraid my being here will cause more hassle for the celebrations, I will take my leave now" he saw his father about to protest but held his hand up before he could "there's no way around it, I'm making this decision on my own accord, to keep the peace" with that he takes a bow before heading away from the table, leaving Stoick confused on what to do, but one thing he thought of in his mind was to let him do what he thinks best.

Trust in his decision.

Hiccup walk along again ignoring the stares until he stopped among the Hoffersons table where he turn to greet them.

"Mr and Mrs Hofferson" he said with a bow as he turned to the younger one of the family and smiled "hello Fern, hope Odin gave you some nice goodies in your helmet" the young Hofferson smiled back and nodded enthusiastically, he was a shy boy but when Hiccups around he seem to come out of his shell more.

Might be because Hiccup was around when the boy was born, leaving a positive imprint on him.

Hiccup then turned towards Astrid who looked at him with her ocean blue eyes wondering if he'll say anything to her.

Hiccup simply smiled at her before hand her the wrapped gift before bowing and heading towards the large doors.

The Hoffersons were confused as to what Hiccup gave Astrid.

No doubt it was an axe from the way it was wrapped but why give Astrid an axe when she refused to have a new one.

Astrid wanted to know what Hiccup gave her as she started to remove the cloth from the weapon only to stand back on shock, so did her parents.

Laying upon the table was Finn Hoffersons axe.

His actual axe.

Agusto recognized his own brothers signature anywhere.

But what he did see was it had only survived the fire, but had bee repaired and restored to what it looked like back when his brother was presented it after his dragon final.

The handle had been replaced and the blades of the axe had been reinforced and sharpened but the head was still the same.

Astrid however couldn't believe her eyes.

She had her axe back and looking as good as new.

Then she thought even more, Hiccup gave it to her.

Which means he had snuck in to her house and took it himself.

But if he didn't then it surely would have perished.

But why did he take it.

Looking at it again, she saw how fully repaired it was.

He repaired it for her.

Without hesitation she ran out of the hall and down the large steps to find Hiccup and thank you for it.

But as she looked around, he was no where to be seen.

She search a bit further near the forest edge, still nothing.

She frowned as she couldn't get to say what she wanted to say to him.

Instead she looked into the darkness of the wood and spoke in that general direction.

"Thank you Hiccup, thank you ever so much, and happy Snoggletog" she said with a genuine smile and small tear in her eye as she walked slowly back towards the hall.

Unaware of the figure sat in the nearby tree, hearing all what she had said and smiled as he watches the female Hofferson walk back with a sense of pride in her step.

"Now there's the Astrid Hofferson I know"


	8. Chapter 8- Those we lost,found

**Sorry about that last chapter folks with wade, he can be a douche sometimes but gave him a lorry full of tacos and chimichangas and he's very quiet now.**

 **Okay first off...over 300 followers! Wow that's more than my other stories got. Even iron fury. I want to thank all of you and as a special mothers day treat at the end of this, I gave you all a little present.**

 **Hope you enjoy.**

 **Chapter 8- Those we lost, found**

It's been a month now since Snoggletog evening when Hiccup taught not only Mildew but Snotlout and the twins a lesson on not to piss him off while at the same time, giving hope for the young shield-maiden once again by presenting her uncles axe back to her, not only still in one piece but fixed back to its original proud state.

Where ever you went around the village, you couldn't find Astrid without her axe strapped proudly across her back as she heads to the forest to carry on with her training.

Something her parents remind Stoick about every time he sees her around that it was his son, whom he banished, that brought their daughter back.

Well almost, they still miss the fun loving Astrid that she was before Finns incident with the Flightmare years ago, but they had high hopes that if Hiccup could bring back Astrid from her state of depression like that then there is a good chance he can go even further.

But as they see Stoick they tell him every time how they wished that Hiccup wasn't banished.

And in truth so does the chief.

So here he was in his house looking at dozens of unrolled out parchments, looking for a solution as to how he could unbanish his son.

He sighed dull-fully, having spent nights upon night looking through every single detail to right his wrong.

So far no luck.

The only thing he found was that Hiccup could be brought back into the village and the tribe...

After five years had past.

And only if he can prove he is worthy of rejoining back.

Stoick rubs his forehead in frustration.

He wish he could change the damn rules, if he could he would have his son back in the village within a heartbeat.

But some rules are set in stone.

Created by the first council of the Hooligan tribe so that no rule shall be changed without the full consent of the current chief and council members.

And that was the problem.

Yes some on the council would change it to bring back Hiccup.

This included Gobber, Agusto Hofferson, Mooselegs Ingerman, Mulch and Bucket.

But there were some on the council that would refuse for his to come back yet and to wait the full five years.

This was lead by Stoicks brother-in-law, Spitelout Jorgenson, who was still pissed off with Hiccup's actions towards his son.

But Stoick knew very well that it was because Hiccup made a laughing stock of the Jorgenson name by flooring Snotlout and making him piss his pants.

"Why did father ever agree to arrange a marriage between Angela and that mutton head in the first place?" he sighed remembering the day he announced that his sister was to marry Spitelout in order to produce an heir, being sceptical that he and Valka wouldn't have one after so many tries.

This saddened him even more remembering all the failed pregnancies the married couple went through before Hiccup.

It was Stoick who wanted to stop in case he lost her to one more, but she was one of stubbornest woman on Berk and refused to give up.

He then smiled as that sounded just like Hiccup.

'Was that why I never got close to him? Because he reminded me of her so much?' he thought to himself before shaking his head as he drank from his nearly empty tankard and carried on through the stacks of parchments for any loophole once again.

He didn't even notice Gobber opening the door and walks toward the table covered in opened up parchments.

"Any luck there Stoick?" he asked breaking Stoick from his reading as he sighed.

"No Gobber, nothing that we already don't know about" he replies back, sighing in frustration as Gobber takes his empty tankard to the barrel at the back of the room, refilling it back up before taking one for himself too.

"Well ya know Stoick, the old council always set them rule up with secret loopholes, in case they were needed" he explains as he hands Stoick his tankard of mead before sitting down to drink his as he sighs, getting Stoick attention.

"Something wrong Gobber?" he asks as Gobber looks up at him.

"I can' believe that even after banishing him, yew allowed that old fart Mildew te came back in anyway"

Stoick sighed, he got told about this on a daily basis and every time he kept wondering about it too.

But he knew why.

"Look Gobber I wish I could stop him from ever coming back here, if I could, I'd throw him off the Island entirely..."

"...bu' because he owns the rights to the cabbage farms, he's allow back in once a week fer tradin'" Gobber interrupts as Stoick nods his head before banging his head on the table as Gobber carried on.

"Damn loopholes" he said as he took a swig of his mead.

Suddenly, Stoick lifted his head up with a look of realization.

And he smiled.

He just found his loophole.

Granted it won't get his son back in the village on a permanent basis as of yet but it'll get him a foot in.

And the council can't change it unless the whole of them agree to.

Gobber meanwhile was looking at his old friend, wondering what was going on until he realized why Stoick looked enthusiastic.

"Yew just found yer loophole didn' ya?" Gobber put it simply as Stoick nodded again before looking directly at the old blacksmith.

"What sort of things can Hiccup do that would benefit the village?" he suddenly asked, taking Gobber by surprise.

As he got over the shock, he start to think about all the things Hiccup had done in all this time since his banishment.

There were so many things that would benefit the village thanks to him.

But he knew Stoick wouldn't go for all of the them, mainly the one's that wouldn't involve his complicated contraptions, no matter how good they were.

So Gobber settle on the basics.

"Well first off, he's a great blacksmith, helping with half my orders so I'm not lagging behind..." he started off with as he pointed to his index finger with his hook hand before carrying on.

"He has become very good at hunting and gathering, mainly fer his own survival needs, thanks te the area he lives in, is able to make a farm fer crops an' by a lake so he has access to fish, the strangest thing is that he never gets attacked by dragons either" he finishes off as he looks at Stoick, who is thinking about all of this.

Stoick takes on aboard all what Gobber tells him.

'If Hiccup can help out with some of our losses from the raid, it might help his chances at coming back' he thinks to himself as he nods at Gobber before telling him of his plan.

Gobber agrees and before long they both head towards the great hall for a council meeting to discuss this with the others.

Meanwhile In the forest, the sound of grunting and screaming could be heard as young Astrid Hofferson, renewed with confidence to become the best, practises with her uncles old axe that he gave to her.

Of course looking at the weapon closely, you couldn't tell its age by how worn it is or how damaged the blade was from constant sharpening over the years.

Astrid however did know along with her family on its age, having Finn Hoffersons initials carved onto the axehead, that's was the only part of the axe that looked old since Hiccup decided not to renew that part, wanting to keep the history alive through the old weapon.

It was also to prove that he repaired the weapon and not replaced it at all.

Something Astrid appreciated.

Yes Hiccup could have given her a brand new axe that looked exactly like the old one, but he knew that's what Astrid never wanted.

She wanted to remember her uncles legacy.

But as she swung her axe into a nearby tree with force, embedding it fully into the wood, she started to think about something.

Or to put it another way, someone.

Her mind was wondering the same thing over and over again.

Why did he do this for her?

Sure she figured he was a nice guy and wanted to bring some happiness to someone.

But why her?

She recalled that in the last five year since they stopped being friends, mainly her own wrongdoing, that she hadn't been kind to him one bit.

She ignored him when he was getting beaten up.

She'd give him disappointed looks whenever something happened.

Hell she even hurt him herself when he gave her a rose on Frigga day.

At the time she didn't want love she wanted respect.

And yet throughout that time he still respected her, he tried to make her happy.

But she didn't understand why.

As she thought about why he did it, she had come to realize that she forgot all about who Hiccup was.

And it saddened her.

As she pulled out her axe from the unfortunate tree, she then started to make up a plan.

She will find out more about Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third if its the last thing she does.

 **Back in the great hall**

"No!" came the voice of Spitelout as Stoick told them of his suggestion, to which many of them agreed.

But as predicted, the head Jorgenson had to be the one to argue about it.

Unfortunately for him, he was out-voted five to three as even the all quiet Gothi put her vote in too.

But still, Stoick wanted to understand what he had against allowing a boy back into the tribe as he turned his attention to the Jorgenson along with everyone else.

"And what excuse do you have to disagree?"

Spitelout stood up straight after he was asked, puffing out his chest, trying to make himself look big and intimidating.

"Because the runt will destroy the village like he used to!"

Stoick was getting mad, he was about to retort back until Agusto got there first.

"Aye but not as worse as your boy! At least Hiccup showed respect to others!" he lowered his head however as he carried on "even when they didn't show respect to him"

From those words, most of of the councillors did the same realizing Agusto was right, non of them ever showed Hiccup the respect he deserved.

Only their disappointment.

Spitelout however was unaffected by this as he carried on his protest.

"Well what about the fire to the forge before his banishment? After all, that was the reason we banished him in the first place"

This time Gobber stood up as he glared at the Jorgenson.

"An' what make ye think it was Hiccup who did it?!" he shouted, taking Spitelout by surprise before recovering to give his reply.

"Because he was right there!"

"He's suppose te be there! He was my apprentice! I told him to stay there while I spoke to Stoick about the list of weapon available" he kept his eye upon Spitelout, whom had run out of reasons for Hiccups reasoning to be there that morning, but Gobber pressed on, determined to get his point across.

"Besides, if ye knew the boy correctly, then yew would know tha' he already accidentally set fire te the forge once before"

"So?"

"So if ye knew him well ye would know tha' when he makes a mistake, he never does it again" he paused to take a breather as Mooselegs came in with his own theory after hearing what Gobber had to say.

"So someone else did it and let Hiccup take the blame" Gobber looked at him with a smile and nodded, glad to see someone got the gist of what he was saying.

"Exactly an' I intend te find out who"

"And we banish them like we did to Hiccup?" Mulch asked as everyone looked from him to Stoick who was listening to everything that had to be said before giving his answer.

"No, since it was Hiccup who was wrongfully accused, then he should be allowed the extent of the punishment"

"Aye if ye can find out who" Spitelout retorted earning a glare from most of the council members, making him sit back and shut up with a huff as Stoick cleared his throat loudly, getting everyone's attention focused on him.

"Okay, those in favour on letting Hiccup into the village to trade raise your hand" he looked around to see Gobber, Mooselegs, Agusto, Mulch, Bucket and even Gothi raise their hands in agreement.

He wanted to smile but didn't want to look too smug in front of the others, very un-chiefton like, as he carried on talking.

"All those who oppose?"

As he looked around however, he was surprised to find that no one had put their hand up.

Not even Spitelout who just sat there scowling as he looked away from the others.

Stoick claps his hands in delight as they all agree to allow Hiccup to come to the village to trade goods.

The footing he needs to get his son back into the village and the tribe.

Once the meeting was over and everyone departed, leaving Stoick and Gobber in the great hall alone, Stoick then turned to the blacksmith to give out the rest of the plan.

"You know what to do Gobber?" he asked as Gobber raised his eyebrow but still nodded in agreement.

"Aye I do, bu' I will say Stoick tha' the meeting was the easy part, getting Hiccup te agree will be a challenge"

Stoick had to agree on that, he knew Hiccup will decline at first, and after the Snoggletog incident, will take a lot of convincing to get him to agree.

"Yes Gobber, but hopefully he will accept in the end, after all I'm doing this so he is safe"

Gobber snorted, having to stop himself from laughing which made Stoick raise an eyebrow.

"Stoick ye should know Hiccup will always be one fer danger, in fact I guarantee right now he's doing something incredibly crazy te himself..."

 **At this very moment deep in the forest**

Squealing can be heard as a boar rushes from out of a nearby bush and into an open area of the forest, running for dear life away from something.

Or someone.

As it tries to make a break for the trees a purple blast stops it and forces the boar to change direction as it makes a break for another set of trees, but again another purple blast forces it to change course.

Eventually the boar, who was confused as to the attackers whereabouts, unmistakably heads back the way it came.

Only for it to suddenly collapse on the ground, motionless as an arrow pierces its skull deeply as another one was stuck in it's chest where the heart was, causing it to bleed out.

The owner of the arrows emerged out of the bushes a few seconds later as he cautiously walked towards the limp beast.

It wasn't the first time that young Hiccup, had been taken by surprise by one of his hunts and got a scar on his arm to remind him.

Yes his reptilian friend could have healed it completely with his saliva but Hiccup insisted on keeping it, as a remind about never underestimating your opponent.

Speaking of his reptilian, as Toothless lands right next to Hiccup watching curiously as Hiccup approaches the fallen boar.

Toothless could sense straight away that the boar was indeed dead, but it still fascinated him on the way his human companion would use long pointy sticks to take down the animal instead of using his dragons fire.

But over the time he had come to know Hiccup, Toothless had seen him do things that should be virtually impossible for his age and stature let alone by himself.

And yet here he was, surviving, proving to no one in particular that he can handle himself.

An why the boys scent seemed familiar.

Yes Toothless could smell the large leader of dragon killers in the village close by but also another.

As he was thinking about where he recognized that scent from, he didn't notice Hiccup trying to lift the slightly large boar off the ground with quite a bit of struggle.

Might be due to the fact that Hiccup had been chasing the creature for most of the day after it nearly impaled him as he was gathering plants from around the forest with him on foot with his bow and arrows and Toothless in the air trying to fire at it.

He was exhausted and even more so as he realized that he had chased it all the way to the other end of the forest.

But Hiccup wouldn't give up, he was stubborn just like Stoick and wouldn't give up.

Still he was wondering how he was going to get the carcass home in one piece.

As he grunted trying to handle the weight of the boar on his back, this snapped Toothless out of his thoughts, only to see Hiccup struggle so without hesitation, walked over to him and grabbed the lifeless boar easily off of his back and into his gummy mouth.

Hiccup just looked at the black dragon for a second in amazement, it still was a surprise to him that a dragon, a mortal enemy of Vikings, could befriend him so easily, even saving his life more than once.

Hiccup then smiled as he felt like he was cared for after all.

After a few seconds of standing, he hopped onto Toothless' back, holding on tightly to the saddle as they took off into the air.

All the time, Hiccup kept smiling.

His mood over the last month had improved.

Maybe it was that some people in the village did like him?

Maybe it was that he kicked the crap out of his lifetime bully?

Or was it because of what he did for Astrid?

He made her happy again.

He brought back her fighting spirit.

And for that, it seemed to make him happy too.

Something Toothless picked up on when his small rider came back from the village that night.

And it made him happy knowing Hiccup was too.

It only took a few minutes to get back to the cove via flying, as soon as they did, Toothless carefully dropped the boar carcass next to the open fire pit as Hiccup climbed off and started gathering up the logs from his large pile, ready to light up the fire so he could start skinning the beast in the warmth.

Lucky enough nowadays all he had to do was place the wood into the pit as Toothless would always insist on lighting it up for him, despite Hiccups protests that he didn't need to do that, but the black dragon wouldn't take no for an answer as he set a large flat stone on fire before laying down to rest while watching Hiccup curiously as he did his daily routine.

Days were spent like this where Hiccup would do one of his chores, like checking his stock, forge work, design plans, etc while Toothless would relax until he saw Hiccup relax himself and let him curl up around the Night Fury for warmth before falling asleep.

 **Later on in the night.**

Hiccup started to toss and turn in his sleep as he began to speak.

"Momma..."

He was having a nightmare about losing his mother all over again.

Yes he was a baby when she was taken, but he still had a vague memory of that night.

He remembers waking up to a large orange and white dragon that kind of looked like an reptilian owl in the face staring back at him with large dilated eyes as his mother watched on curiously.

He could remember her face, just that he had her eyes and her hair was a darker brown to his own.

Hiccup still remembers when he got the scar on his chin, his cot accidentally moved and the dragon, who at that point let him play with one of his claws, snagged him on the chin, causing him to cry for a few seconds until he saw how wide the dragons eyes went.

And then the scene changed as fire began to spread and the dilated eyes of the dragon turned to slits.

Next thing he knew, he was being held by his father while his mother was carried off by the same dragon, never to be seen again.

Suddenly Hiccup woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily as tears came down his cheeks, while Toothless looked on worryingly, having heard Hiccup whimpering throughout the night.

He gave the boy a sad croon, nuzzling his head underneath Hiccups hand to show him he was there for him.

This made Hiccup smile as he rubbed the top of the dragons heard.

"It's alright bud, just a recurring nightmare I have some times, well more of a recurring memory" Hiccup said as he explained about how he lost his mother when he was a baby as Toothless kept himself curled up around Hiccup hoping for him to get back to sleep.

But now Hiccup was awake, he didn't feel like sleeping, in truth he didn't want to relive that memory again, it always plagued him at this time of year.

So instead, the duo took to the skies for a pre-dawn flight around the islands around Berk, performing wild stunts in the air that would give anyone a heart attack just by watching it.

Of course this would happen anyway by simply riding a dragon.

Hiccup didn't care, he loved the wind in his face and hair, the feeling of freedom from the ground.

And some times the saddle as he would purposely jump off once they were high enough in the air for Toothless to always catch him before he hit the ground.

A crazy thrill they both love to do while in the air until the sun starts to rise as they both land on a nearby sea stack to get a better view.

As the sun rose, Hiccup began to think on how much the people of Berk are missing by not making peace with the dragons instead of trying to kill each other.

If only they could see what he sees.

But he scoffed, knowing they are too stuck in their ways.

So after the sun had finally risen, both he and Toothless headed on home.

Hiccup knew today Gobber and Fishlegs would be visiting and wanted to make sure Toothless was safe before they arrived.

As soon as they landed, Hiccup told Toothless to come back later when they were gone to which the dragon nodded in understanding making the boy smile as Toothless spread his wings once again and took off into the sky.

He had to find out where that scent came from.

And he would find his answer from his alpha.

 **A couple of hours later**

Hiccup had fully fired up the forge and was getting a few ingots melted by the time Gobber arrived with his usual supply of broken weapons and tools.

Hiccup still kept wondering how the village managed to break them so easily when dragons fly off when they see a sword.

But when Gobber got closer, Hiccup noticed that the huge pile of weapons he usually brought was very small.

In fact it was just half of the usual pile.

Hiccup arched his brow in confusion but kept it to himself as he greeted Gobber in his usual manner as they started to get to work on repairs.

All the time Hiccup wanted to ask why was this broken pile he sent smaller than usual but still held his tongue.

It wasn't until they were halfway through that Gobber began to give him his answer.

"I know what ye thinkin' lad, why this pile o' broken weapons is smaller than usual, am I correct?" Hiccup looked up, holding his swings from his hammer as he nodded while Gobber carried on speaking.

"Well ye see lad, I need te tell ye somethin' very important, so would ya mind putting the hammer down and sitting please" Gobber said as Hiccup slowly complied, placing him smiths hammer on a nearby bench before sitting on his chair by his desk as Gobber knelt down to be at sort of equal height level as his young friend before speaking.

He explained everything from the beginning.

His father spend days and weeks searching for a way to get Hiccup unbanished, to Hiccup shock.

The meeting to discuss this and finally the plan to bring him closer to the village via trading.

Hiccup furrowed his brow at this, the villagers wanted him back and the only way to do so is through trade routes.

Hiccup thought about this, and it made logical sense since even the chief can't unbanish someone until the five year period had passed and only then if he appealed.

Hiccup however sighed as Gobber finished explaining, taking notice of Hiccup facial expression.

He was serious.

"Look Gobber I thank you for explaining this to me and I know my dad is trying to make up for his mistakes, I see that clearly, but I can't go back that life again Gobber" he paused, seeing Gobber was about to protest so put his hand up to keep him quiet as he carried on.

"And we know nothing will change if I did come back" his expression lightened with a smile from him as he carried on.

"However, to know I can come and visit once in a while, even if its for trade purposes, maybe even help you out in the shop for old times sake" he paused again to smirk at the old blacksmith.

"After all, you're not as young you used to be" he ducked just in time as a shoe was thrown in his direction before they both laughed.

After that they went back to work finishing off the weapons before it was time to depart.

Hiccup promised Gobber he'll be at the edge of the village next week once he has a good supply ready for trading with. Mainly furs, leather and food of all sorts considering the raid problems.

Soon Hiccup was alone and was so for hours until Toothless came back from gods knows where, but Hiccup didn't question it as both he and Toothless were exhausted, Hiccup for his usual routine of chores and Toothless for long distance flying.

As Hiccup laid in his bed all he could think about what he needed to do in the next week before his visit.

Toothless too had his own thoughts to go on, mainly how he was going to convince Hiccup to come with him to the sanctuary.

 **One week later**

It had been a tough week for Hiccup, but a very profitable one to boot as he stood on the edge of the village, carrying the good he will trade in the village.

Some wolf pelts he got from a nearby island, boar meat and leather, a basket of fish and his rucksack full of ores and his smithing tools.

He still wanted to further his blacksmithing skills and make the weapons he saw in the book he got from Fishlegs at Snoggletog, but he needed to get the right balance of metals to make them, which will take some time.

At this moment in time, he was nervous as he walked on through the village, watching its residence looking back at him.

Some in shock.

Some glared but he ignored them.

And the rest watched with interest as he made it to the forge and was greeted by Gobber and the huge pile of broken weapons from the recent raid.

Gobber was waiting for him, more surprised at what Hiccup brought with him, but was very grateful for the extra supplies.

He let Hiccup get on with the forging, trusting him with looking after the shop while Gobber informed Stoick of his sons arrival.

Hiccup wasted no time in setting to work on the broken pile as he grabbed a bent sword, inspecting how he was going to fix it before getting out his tools and setting to work.

The sound of clanging could be heard throughout the day as one by one, Hiccup had shortened the broken pile by a lot.

Working without the pressure of the village helped in his strength and confidence in his ability to mend just about anything quickly.

He heard the door to the forge open and closed and assumed it was Gobber coming back from the chiefs house so paid no attention.

Little did he know how wrong he was when he heard her voice ring out like a Valkyries call.

"Hiccup?"

Hiccup went wide eyed, realizing it wasn't Gobber but Astrid.

Unfortunately because of this momentary distraction, he didn't realize where his hammer was aiming for until it was too late and felt a surge of pain flow through him as the impact of the hammer smashed right onto his hand instead of the shovel he was working on.

Hiccup immediately let go of the hammer and went straight for his damaged hand, swearing like mad.

(AN:if you don't like swearing please look away)

"Ow fuckshittwatassholingwankingupyourarseupyourcuntgodsyoufuckingwhoreofacow!" Hiccup shouted violently as he hopped about in one spot.

(AN: Okay its safe, swearing provided by the great Brian Blessed)

Astrid blushed madly, never hearing anyone let alone Hiccup swear like that, she didn't know how colourful his vocabulary was in this situation.

Of course she never had a hammer smash onto her hand either and was grateful she never had to experience that just yet.

But she came out of her thoughts as she just realized Hiccup was in an extreme amount of pain from that impact and might have broken his hand.

"Hiccup! You alright?" she asked earning a dead-panned look from the boy.

She just realized what she said and quickly put her hand over her mouth.

"Yeah stupid question really, is there anything I can do to help?" she asked again to which she got a reply as he let go of his broken hand and pointed towards his rucksack.

" there's a green box in there, full of cloths and ointments, pass it over please" Astrid nodded, heading towards his bag and searched through it until she found the green box full of medical supplies.

Hiccup took no time in opening the box getting out the cloth and a bottle of clear fish-smelling liquid before looking at Astrid.

"Astrid I'll need your help, can you open up the bottle and pour the contents onto my hand please" Astrid nodded as she opened up the bottle, holding her breath due to the foul smell as she poured the liquid onto Hiccups broken hand before wrapping it up tightly with the cloth.

While she did that she started to make small talk to pass the time.

"So, where did you learn that sort of language from?" she asked as she made sure the wrappings were on tightly so they won't fall off.

Hiccup, while sat there simply smirked as he answered.

"When you work with Gobber you pick up all sorts of words" he chuckled.

He didn't notice at first but Astrid's blue eyes were looking directly into his.

Soon they were both transfixed by their stare.

This was one of the main features Hiccup always liked about her, her eye's were like the sea.

Beautiful, blue and very untameable, he always knew the only thing that would never change from her was those eyes, they always made him smile.

Astrid was more on the same line as him, but she never tried to take no notice of her feelings, due to her wanting to be a shield-maiden.

And shield-maidens never get giddy over a pair of eyes.

Even if they are alluring.

Both turned away at the same time, Hiccup rubbing the back of his neck with his good hand and Astrid rubbing her arm.

"Well err, I see Gobbers not here so I'll pop by later"

"Yeah, yeah you do that"

Astrid was about to walk out of the forge by turned towards Hiccup and smiled.

"It was nice seeing you again Hiccup" and with that she left.

Hiccup was still recovering when Gobber arrived in the shop a few seconds later looking rather confused as he saw Astrid run out of the forge in a hurry only to find a stunned looking Hiccup sat down with a bandaged hand.

"Trouble with the ladies I see lad" he chuckled earning a two finger salute from Hiccups good hand making Gobber laugh even harder.

After that nothing eventful happened for the rest of the day and soon, after all the work was done, it was time for Hiccup to head home.

Gobber insisted he'd take him home but Hiccup stubbornly refused, having done this route several time.

In truth Hiccups mode transport wasn't for the Viking hearts.

As he approached the edge of the village, he was suddenly knocked to the ground very hard,knocking the air out of his lungs.

Before he could recover he was being lifted off the ground by his throat by none other than a really pissed off Snotlout who was glaring back at him.

"You don't belong here runt!" he shouted right in Hiccups face.

Hiccup himself tried to move but soon realized his arms and legs were being held by the Ruffnut and Tuffnut who could only snigger at Hiccups sturggle.

"You don't belong anywhere, you're a mistake that shouldn't have lived!" he carried on while smirking "in fact the dragon should have taken you when it took your mummy, then we would have to bother with the likes of you!" Snotlout and the twins laughed, unaware of the gathering crowd.

Snotlout saw the anger in Hiccups eyes and decided to mock him for it "aww is wittle baby Hiccup gonna cwy over his dead mummy? Do you want to join he..." but he never got to finish his sentence as the blunt end of an axehead smashed right into his face, knocking him off balance and letting go of Hiccup, giving him the perfect opportunity to gets his arms released and punch the twins squarely in the face, knocking them out.

Snotlout recovered only to find he was pinned down by a boot belonging to an extremely angry Astrid.

"A-astrid! W-what brings you here b-ba..." again he was cut off as she hits him over the head with her axe again.

"Shut up you withering maggot! This is low even for you Jorgenson! Three against one and insulting someone dead mum, you should be ashamed of yourself! He's your cousin and you treat him like a plague" she practically screamed causing all around to remain silence incase she turned on them.

Hiccup finished disposing of the twin before talking to Astrid.

"Let him go Astrid" he said calmly as she looked at him very confused.

"But Hiccup he..."

"Please Astrid" he said calmly once again cutting her off as she nodded, letting go of Snotlout whom got up quite quickly smirking thinking his cousin weak for letting off so easily.

"Well I guess I was right, you are weak, can't even take down the mighty Snotlo..."

Snotlout suddenly felt a strong grip on his throat as he's thrown to a nearby house, causing the wooden wall to crack.

He looks from the arm to the owner only to be in shock at seeing Hiccup, green eyes ablaze with anger from the likes no one has ever seen before.

"Now listen here you mouldy bucket of steaming yak piss! Insult me all you like but leave my fucking mother out of it! Or so help me I'll stick my hand so far down your throat I'll rip out your gods damn spine! Do I make myself clear?!" he shouts right in his face but got no verbal answers.

However after hearing the sound of dripping water coming from underneath Snotlout, indicating he just pissed himself once again.

Hiccup smirk as he took the answer as a yes as he gave him one last slam into the wall, knocking him out, before letting him lay in the puddle of piss he formed as he walked back towards his rucksack to gather his things up before addressing the growing crowd, which contained the council and Stoick looking dumbstruck.

"It's funny really, he actually created the Hiccup you see before you, you see if he and the twin hadn't set fire to the forge that night, I wouldn't have been banished" he paused when he heard the gasps from the villagers making raise his eyebrow.

"Wait, you didn't know?" he asked as they all shook their heads in unison before he sighed and starts to walk towards the forest.

"I need some time alone please" he said as he starts to sprint towards the forest, leaving a bewildered village to deal with this new information.

After a little while of running, Hiccup finally got home before collapsing onto the ground, bursting into tears.

Not for the physical pain nor the emotional one.

But upon Snotlout dragging his mothers name through the dirt.

That hurt him more than anything.

Toothless had arrived slightly before Hiccup and saw his boy on the ground very upset.

He nudged the boys head slightly, crooning sadly as Hiccup wrapped his arms around the dragons head.

Hiccup explained what happened and to say the least that Toothless was angry.

If he'd been allowed to he would rage war against those who hurt Hiccup and make them pay.

But he also knew Hiccup wouldn't allow that.

But the black dragon know what might cheer him up as he jested for Hiccup to climb on his back for a flight.

Hiccup took the suggestion and knew a few intense falls would help him calm down so within seconds jumps onto Toothless and they dart off into the air and far away from Berk.

Hiccup didn't notice for a few minutes that they were heading south until he saw Islands he didn't recognise.

"Err bud, aren't we going a little off course?" he said as the Night fury roared at Hiccup to trust him.

It didn't take long but, as Hiccup looked on into the setting sky light, he notices a landmass that was pure white and blue.

Like it was made of ice.

Toothless started to head toward the landmass before diving into a nearby cave as he twisted and turned to avoid the walls.

"B-bud! Where are we going? We don't know what's in..." but Hiccup pauses as the walls suddenly open up to a large green island full of thousands of dragons, some flying around and some sleeping on edges.

"...here" he breathed out, finishing off his last sentence as Toothless lands allowing Hiccup to climb off and look around.

Some of the dragons start to land nearby too, curious to their new arrivals, causing Toothless to wrap himself around Hiccup protectively as the said boy watch curiously, and even holds his hand out towards one of them like he did to gain Toothless' trust.

Before he could though he hears a thud behind him, causing the dragons to back off and making Hiccup turn around in shock at what landed.

It was that dragon from his nightmares, the one who took his mother away.

Same orange and white markings as well as the blue line under its jaw.

But Hiccup also saw it had a rider, one in full armour and some strange sort of mask.

The masked figure slowly approached the pair as Toothless still was wrapped around Hiccup protectively until the rider waved their arm over him, causing him to collapse in sheer bliss before approaching Hiccup.

The first looked at his green eyes before putting their gloved hand over his face.

That was until the got to his chin and saw the slightly faded scar there, they back off slightly as they began to speak in a feminine voice.

"H-hiccup?" she said as she remove her mask revealing herself as a middle aged woman with brown braided hair and green eyes similar of that to Hiccups.

Her expression was of shock at who was standing right in front of her.

"C-could it really be you?"

Hiccup looked confused as he began to speak.

"D-do I know you?" he asked but something in the back of his mind was telling him that he had seen her somewhere before.

But where?

"I suppose not" she looked down in shame which got Hiccup more curious as she carried on "you were only a babe when I was taken"

She then looked up with the same eyes like his and suddenly his memory start to piece together who she is.

"But a mother never forgets"

Hiccup was taken aback at first, he didn't know what to think, he was told she died being taken by a dragon, but from how Toothless and the other dragons were with him, it seemed less possible she was.

Hiccups eyes started to well up however as his heart began to race.

Suddenly he rushed into her arms, hugging her as he buried his face in between her neck and shoulder blade crying his eyes out.

"Momma!" he mumbled while still crying, causing her to cry, finally being reunited with her son once again.

Hiccup had a lot of questions to ask her.

But right now that could wait.

Right now he was happy.

His mother is alive.


	9. Chapter 9- What A Weird Day

**Hi lads and lasses i'm back I got to say a few things first is thank you for you patience, work has been a bitch with me the last few months, change from one department to another but because they no one for the previous one i had to cover that too with that and me training up to do whats called the tough mudder in august, means alot of running, alot of time on sorting out the 20+ obstacles i'll have to face, etc. But as it is I've got another chapter out and a good lengthy one at that. Second over 350 follower, wow more than my other ones and seems that this story is far from over, I will be working on the next chapter of something stupid, something crazy next as that one is way overdue. Anyway here is chapter 9 and enjoy.**

 **Chapter 9- What a weird day**

 **Several months later** **at the village forge**

Hiccup had taken up his role as trader and blacksmiths assistant for the village, he didn't mind it one bit even if his first visit didn't go as he planned it to be.

But in truth, he wouldn't change it one bit.

For one he got to see that some of the villagers started to respect him, mostly due to the extra supplies of food and furs he would bring on his days here or that he would help in repair work.

Most of all despite what Snotlout and twins did to him, with the years of bullying him and framing him for the forge fire that caused his banishment, to which Stoick and most of the council agreed would be decided on their punishment by him, he didn't give them the same fate he was given.

Instead he had something more degrading for them to do.

Clean out every farmyard and dragon cells on Berk of manure and send it all to Mildew, for the amount of shit they put him through all those years.

Stoick however made one extra punishment for Snotlout personally, mainly due to the Jorgenson boy, who disrespected his late wife on more than one occasion.

He guaranteed that Snotlout Jorgenson will not become the next chief when he steps down.

Most of the council agreed to this.

In fact the only one who protest was Spitelout, calling it unfair justice.

Stoick however was prepared for that with many fact at why Snotlout wouldn't make a good chief.

The first is because of his ego being too big for his helmet that the second he becomes chief, he'll do something completely stupid.

Second is the fact that Stoick had been training him in secret over the last couple of years, under the advice from the other council members who saw him as the next heir, but no matter how Stoick tried to teach him about diplomacy, he was too busy showing off his Viking physique.

The last was simple, everyone complained about him for his or one of the twins pranks around the village.

The only thing Spitelout could protest on was the fact that his son was still young and will grow out of his ego state.

Unfortunately for him, the council disagreed on this stating that the Jorgenson ego is infamous among the Hooligans and a reason why there has never been a Jorgenson chief ever.

This shut him up completely as the council put it to a vote, to which all but him agreed on the punishments at hand.

Meanwhile at Gobber's forge, Hiccup was taking care of it while the blacksmith was in the council meeting.

He kept himself busy fixing weapons and tools and while Fishlegs was talking talking about the usual stuff.

This time about making the weapons they saw in the book back in Snoggletog.

Fishlegs isn't a weapons type of guy but he did like the look of them and wondered if it could be done by a Viking.

But as he was talking away about the certain pros and cons of Viking forgery, Hiccup was thinking to himself about what happened to him in the last few months.

Mainly finding out his mother was alive and well even riding a dragon of her own to which he discovered to be the same dragon that took her when he was a baby.

A Stormcutter named Cloudjumper.

He remembered like it was only yesterday...

 **Flashback several months ago**

Hiccup, after embracing Valka for a good solid twenty minutes, was looking around her home which was a large cave, big enough to fit several adult dragons in easily, which was handy considering Cloudjumpers large form.

Toothless however has no problem thanks to his sleek form as he happily hangs upside down, staring at the Stormcutter with dilated eyes while his human interact with his long lost mother, who by this point is trying to make dinner.

Trying and failing for, even though she's been living practically on her own all these years, is still just as bad a cook as Hiccup was told.

Dark smoke rose in the air threatening to choke all four in the cave until Toothless decided to jump down and grabbed the burning fish in his mouth before swallowing it.

Hiccup, Valka and Cloudjumper watched curiously before the young Night Fury burped up black smoke from his mouth, followed by a gummy smile earning a laughing from mother and son.

Valka calms her laughter down as she wipes the tears from her eyes before she starts to speak.

"Guess in all my time alone, I never learnt how to cook better" she turns around to Hiccup only to find him filling up the cauldron full of clean water as he carries it to the fire pit, leaving it to boil.

He then locates several ingredient, onions, carrots, cabbages, a two different kinds of fish as he set them upon the stone table to start cutting with one of the daggers in his boot.

Valka looked confused at firs to what Hiccup was doing before he gave her an answer to her puzzled look she was giving him.

"Good thing Gobber taught me how to cook then" he chuckled before putting in all the ingredients he chopped up into the now boiling water followed by a pinch of salt.

Valka changed her expression from confused to proud to sad.

She realized she had missed out on her son growing up, but she had her reasons.

The first being that she was sure he would be safer in the village than living the life of dragons.

The second was because even though she finally knew the truth about the Viking mortal enemy, she was too afraid to try and convince the others the same.

As the stew was boiling, her and Hiccup sat down to talk about what has happened between them.

Hiccup insisted his mother went first starting from how she was taken.

Valka took a deep breath as she starts telling her son from everything that happened.

She first explained about how Berk was a land of kill and be killed, how the raids were devastating, but despite all this she sought to find a more peaceful route, that's dragons were misjudged, this turned out to be a very unpopular opinion.

Hiccup listened on as she explained about how a dragon broke into the house and she went running towards it fearing for her sons life.

"But as I came in to take on whatever was there, I stopped at what I saw" she looks up at Hiccup "the dragon was curious about you son, and you weren't afraid at all, you seemed, happy" she looked down at the white scar on his chin as she recalled how Cloudjumper accidentally caught his chin resulting in that scar, but the Stormcutter felt guilty for making the young babe cry.

Her smile faded as she looked down "then it all went wrong, your father came in, assuming we were being attacked, Cloudjumper panicked and set the room on fire, your father went for you first but Cloudjumper, scared for my life, grabbed me in his claws and flew from the burning room and off the island, that was the last time I saw you both" she then looked out towards the mouth of the cave watching the vast amount of dragons flying about and resting peacefully with their families.

"I struggled to get out of his grip, he didn't hurt me of course but I wanted to get back, I didn't want to be eaten by a dragon" she turn to hear a grumbling sound coming from Cloudjumper, sounding like he was protesting what Valka said that only made her smile as she walked towards him rubbing his head as she got near "of course I know now you wouldn't have boy"

She then looked towards Hiccup again as she carried on.

"When we landed here I panicked, I was scare, hundreds of dragons were here in one place and yet none of them attacked me, not even the alpha"

This got Hiccups attention even more.

"The Alpha?" he questions having never seen many dragons apart from the ones that come to Berk.

Valka looks puzzled at first before smacking her head, realizing she never showed him.

She smiles as she walk towards the mouth of the cave to the outside.

"Come"

Hiccup, confused by his mothers actions shrugged it off as he followed her outside.

He never really got a good look at the sanctuary when he first got here as he was too much in his thoughts that his mom was alive, but now it has sunk in he was now able to admire the shear beauty as hundreds upon hundreds of dragons were flying about, relaxing or with their families.

His mother was right, this was completely different to the dragons that raid the village.

Saying that he remembers the family of Nadders, they seemed so at peace so it was highly possible that not all dragons are vicious as the others.

In a way they are like humans, there good dragons and bad dragons.

But Hiccup is pulled from those thoughts as he sees his mother standing close to one of the edges as she waits for him to finish looking around.

"What do you think?"

Hiccup however was lost for words for a few seconds, he had never seen anything like it in his eleven years of life.

"It's amazing" he whispered as he looked around again.

The whole sanctuary was walled in by a bluish white structure that blocked off the outside world.

Hiccup come to wonder if was some form of ice, but what could produce such vast structure like this.

He got his answer as he could hear movement of water coming from below the edge his mother was standing.

Hiccup went up to it but as he looked over, he couldn't believe his eyes.

There right at the bottom is the biggest dragon Hiccup had ever seen.

It's whole body was snowy white, with two large tusks protruding out of it's calm looking face.

In fact he's sure no other Viking has ever seen if by the book of dragons had anything to go by.

Valka watches over her son curiosity for the large white dragon as she gets closer to him.

"This is the alpha son, a Bewilderbeast" she announces proudly as she gestures it.

"You see Hiccup, every nest has a queen, but this here is the king of all dragons, with his icy breath made this a home for all dragons"

Hiccup was still transfixed upon the large relaxed dragon as he took in everything his mother said in, including every nest having a queen.

"W-wait you said every nest has a queen, does that mean th..."

"Yes son, even the one near Berk" she replied sadly as Hiccup looked up at her as she look at him right back.

"You most likely gathered Hiccup that there are good and bad dragons, some at the hands of humans, but this one however, controls the dragons to do her bidding, and that is to get her food"

Hiccup was taken aback by this, he just learnt that the three hundred year old war between Berk and the dragons was all down to one controlling them all.

That lead to another puzzling thought in his mind but he'll level that for another time as he sees the white dragon rise from its slumber until it was eye level with them.

Hiccup looked from the Bewilderbeast to his mother Toothless, Cloudjumper and the other dragons as they bowed to the vast form, showing their respect toward the alpha.

Suddenly the Bewilderbeast blew its icy breath toward Hiccup lightly frosting his hair before going back to his slumber.

Roemoving the frost from his already messy hair, he heard his mother laugh as she got close to him.

"He likes you dear" she said as she moved back towards the cave.

"Come now son, I want to hear what I've missed out on in your life" this made Hiccup gulp at what he had to tell her.

He could lie but he didn't want to in to his mother, he just found here after being told all his life she was dead, he didn't want to lose her again.

So Hiccup, taking a deep breath, heads towards the cave, readying himself for what he was about to tell her as he mumbled to himself.

"Gods she's not gonna like this"

…...and he was right.

After hearing everything he had to tell her about him being shunned by the village, his father spending no time with him and sticking him with Gobber got her mad.

What drove her to pure rage was when he was banished.

 **(Warning! Major swearing in progress, you have been warned!)**

"Those stupid fucking barbaric, mud dunged, shit for brains heartless bastards! How fucking dare they send a ten year old out to fucking fend for himself! If I get hold of those twats I'll rip their fucking balls off and make them eat each one! I'll shove my staff up their arses so far! I'll be able to use them as scarecrows!" Valka screams out from the top of her lungs make several dragons fly off from the noise and even making the Bewilderbeast, whom had woken up from all the noise, blushed from all the blue language.

 **(Warning clear, it's safe to read on)**

Hiccup however wasn't fazed at all considering he has heard far worse from Gobber.

"Well I see now where I get my temper from" he said amusingly, but he gets no reply as he watches her hopping on top of Cloudjumper with an angry look on her face.

"Err mom, where you going?" he asked cautiously, seeing her expression unchanged.

"What I should be doing as a mother Hiccup, protecting my child!" she replied as she instruct Cloudjumper to head toward the exit and fly to Berk.

But what she didn't expect was Hiccup to be in her way, stopping her.

"Woah mom! You can't just go flying to Berk just because what they did to me!" he retorted holding his own stern look in place.

He may have his mothers fiery temper, but he also had his fathers stoic expression.

"But Hiccup they can't treat you like that! You could have died out there!" she argued back.

Hiccup however stood firm as he retaliated.

"No! Mother! They shouldn't have treated me like that! But they have and in a way this has taught me to be independent! I've used what makes me unique to help me survive and it has served me very well! They will never know how I come to be like this and they never will! So mom, listen to me and listen good, let it go! What's done is done and no matter what, it cannot be changed!" he shouted,making both Valka and Cloudjumper back down, even changing his mothers expression from angry to sad.

What she saw before her wasn't a boy, in age maybe but, someone who had to grow up in order to survive.

She slid off her dragon before collapsing to the ground bursting into tears.

"I-i'm sorry Hiccup, I'm so sorry. If-if only I'd have returned instead of staying away then-then..." she was about to carry on until she felt a hand on her shoulder, she looked up to see her son with a smile upon his face.

"Then I wouldn't have known my true potential mom, I would be in that forge right now still getting ridiculed, not knowing how my inventive brain could be used for my own survival"

Valka looks into his forest green eyes with her turquoise ones, she saw his independence, she saw how certain he was to his beliefs.

She hadn't seen eyes like that in eleven years, the same eyes that belonged to Stoick.

Finally she sighed in defeat, she knew that he was stubborn just like any Haddock and stands firm to his beliefs.

"Okay son, I'll not pursue this any further, I'm not happy about it but you're right son, what's done is done" she looks up at him and smile "you know, you're about as stubborn as your father, you know that" she chuckles as Hiccup pretend to look hysterical.

"Oh no! His stubbornness and your hot temper. What a dangerous combination!" he said sarcastically as he lean upon Toothless, whom seem to have gotten the gist of his humans humour as he pretends to gargle in pain before collapsing to the floor, taking Hiccup with him, throwing them both into fits of laughter.

Valka watches on before laughing along too.

 **Flashback end**

Hiccup was happy he found her again but as he was thinking about that day he was completely oblivious to Fishlegs trying to get his attention.

"Err Hiccup, yoohoo Midgard to Hiccup" he said over and over again until he finally snapped back into reality.

"Huh what?"

Fishlegs merely rolled his eyes as he spoke "I was saying you think that making that sword can be done? Looking at it, it looks like a complicated design only done by masters"

Hiccup only chuckle as he kept on hammering away at another broken tool.

"Fish, you should remember, when we Vikings put our hearts into something, we see to the end"

Fishlegs looked at his completely puzzled.

"But I thought you said you were never a Viking to begin with?" Hiccup merely shrugged at his large friends question before tapping his head.

"Here I'm not" he then gestured to the whole of his body "this, no way, but this..." he tapped the left-hand side of his chest where his heart is "yes, mind and body of a Hiccup but the heart of Viking"

Fishlegs thought about it for a second before nodding in agreement.

True Hiccup hasn't got the bulky physique of a Viking, but considering that didn't help the Outcast with their ambush attack, no one could argue otherwise.

After that short conversation the duo fell into silence with Hiccup continuing his hammering and Fishlegs absorbed in the weapons book before he started up the conversation again.

"Still Hiccup, how are you going to make it? As far as I know, Berk is rich in iron but copper and tin?"

Hiccup paused his hammering as he pondered what his friend said.

How was he going to find the necessary ores to make these foreign weapons.

Sure he can make them out of Iron easily however he had a feeling that the wrong metal might throw the weapon off balance.

Besides he wanted to go by the book first before giving it his own personal tweaks.

But back to the matter at hand as Hiccup simply shrugged.

"Well if I can't find it on Berk then I'll have to find it off Berk"

This made Fishlegs look at him with a little worry.

"Wait y-you mean leave the island? By yourself? On a boat? W-wouldn't that be risking your life a bit?"

Hiccup only smiled at his large friend, he wanted to tell him his big secret for a while now but did see how to put it without him freaking out.

After all the village still suffered raids from dragons and he might not take it so well.

On the other hand, Fishlegs is fascinated with dragons just like Hiccup is so he might take it well.

As Hiccup pondered those thoughts, he was interrupted by a knock on the door as Astrid entered holding a broadsword in her hand.

"Oh hey Astrid" Hiccup said calmly as he put the hammer down on the anvil, turning his attention towards her.

Ever since that night when she defended him, he found a mutual respect for her.

True he still had a crush deep down inside of him but he didn't want to ruin what could possibly be a friendship in the making.

Astrid however was standing there trying not to blush, she never expected Hiccup to be in the forge today.

All she wanted to do was drop off this sword for repairs and head out to the forest to practice.

But now she was standing there wondering what to do or say.

"Err hello, Midgard to Astrid"

She shock her head, bringing herself back to reality as Hiccup stands there waiting for her to speak.

"Oh, err sorry, just wondering if Gobber was in"

"Nah, he's in a meeting with the other council members discussing the three twits punishments, but I can help" Hiccup replies before smiling as he carried on "after all you've come to a forge with a weapon so I assume you want it repairing"

This made Astrid blush as she quickly handed the sword to Hiccup.

"Yeah, my fathers sword need some repairs before the next raid"

Hiccup gladly took the large sword with ease as he examined it.

He could see straight away what needed repairing.

The tip was slightly bent, it was starting to feel blunt as he ran his fingers carefully down the blade and for some reason, had a bite mark in the centre of it.

He looks from the sword to Astrid as he gave his signature grin.

"Was he fighting with this or was he trying to eat it?" he said jokily as Astrid just rolled her eyes as she smiled back.

"Very funny Hiccup, but for your information, it was a Gronkle that took it as a snack" she replied before sticking her tongue out as she carried on "you know how long it'll take cause I don't want to lose too much day light, I do want to practice"

Hiccup examined it once again before giving his answer.

"Well a bit of extra iron and some hammering to get it back into shape followed by a good old sharpening and polishing, I'd give or take about... thirty minutes to an hour tops"

That surprised Astrid as she remembered how long it would take Gobber to fix the weapons, even longer when Stoick tried to do it.

But before she could ask at how he could do it that quick, Hiccup was already hard at work, heating up the sword and adding the iron to the furnace as he cleaned the sword down, ready for repairing.

As soon as the iron in the furnace melted and the sword cleaned, he set the sword in the fires to heat it up as he carefully poured small amounts of molten iron to the damaged areas before bringing out the glowing sword, carefully laying it out on the anvil ready to hammer.

Astrid and Fishlegs just stared in amazement that a boy that was smaller and thinner than them could do all these things like it was second nature.

It took ten minutes to hammer out the dents and imperfections of the blade, but Hiccup only smiled as he looked at his handy work before dunking it in the water to cool it off as he stepped towards the grindstone before he started to sharpen it evenly on both sides.

Astrid and Fishlegs were so transfixed on Hiccup that they never saw Gobber and Stoick walk in until Hiccup said something.

"How was the meeting?" he asked, never taking his eye's off the sword as the other two just looked confused before turning around to see the old blacksmith and chief standing there just looking as transfixed as the two teens were.

Well mainly Stoick, Gobber knew how quick Hiccup could work, so wasn't shocked the least seeing Hiccup turn a broken sword back to normal.

"It went well lad, Spitelout still protested but that was to be expected since we jus' declared that his son was removed as heir of Berk" Gobber replied on behalf of the chief who was watching his son at work.

Hiccup shrugged as he kept focused on the sword.

"Well that is to be expected, so who's going to be the heir now, you know you need one dad"

Stoick cleared his throat as he began to speak.

"Well son, the council and I have discussed this and we would like you to be heir again"

Hiccup stopped the grindstone before putting the sword down as he sighed.

"I can't accepted it dad" he put his his hand up to stop his father from protesting "please listen, the Hooligans laws of banishment states that everything to do with the tribe shall no longer be rightfully given to the banishee, this includes the former heir, until the five year mark has past and the council is in agreements to reinstate them back in" he then looks at his father directly in his eyes.

"In other words, I can not be the heir for five years, so you must take another"

Stoick just stood there taking all this information in, but his son was right, Berk needs and Heir now in case something happened to the current chief.

But the question is who?

"But if my opinion does count, can I make a suggestion on the next heir" Hiccup asked as Stoick slowly nodded his head as all four watched him closely waiting for his answer.

It came as a shock however as he gestured to Astrid whom was even more shocked than the others.

"M-me?" he nodded at the question "y-you want me to be the heir of Berk? Why?"

Hiccup moved closer to her as he looked directly into her eyes.

"For one Astrid you are very loyal to the tribe, you put others before yourself and do what you can to bring honour to your house, you are strong willed, smart and a fierce warrior, destined to be a shield-maiden. The other is that besides the Haddock and Jorgenson clans, the Hoffersons are the third highest ranking family on the island, making it ideal"

Astrid just stood there, completely stunned for two reasons.

The first being that Hiccup speaks so highly for her to be considered heir to the tribe.

The other is because throughout the whole speech, she had been staring into Hiccup's forest green eyes, she never realized how mesmerising they truly were.

She was wondering how she missed them all these years.

Stoick meanwhile was pondering this thought his mind.

He came to the conclusion it actually made sense, he wasn't happy about his own son not being heir but that's the price for banishment.

He smiled however at his son, Hiccup made the right decision, no one could argue that Astrid would make a good chieftess.

And no one would argue the fact that because she's female that she wouldn't make a good chief, not unless they wanted to feel the wrath of Big-Boobied Bertha, cheiftess of one of the Hooligans allies, the Bog Burglars.

"And is that your finally decision son?" Stoick asked as Hiccup firmly nodded.

"Very well then, I will talk to yer father later Astrid about chieften training, and congratulations lass"

Astrid was about to speak when her mother came running in a panic looking right at her.

"Astrid, have you seen your brother?!" she said with fear in her voice.

Astrid's eyes widened, her brother is missing? She shook her hear with just as much fear in her as her mother.

"He's over there!" Fishlegs replied pointing towards the cliff edge, they all looked to see young Fern Hofferson standing dangerously near the edge.

"Fern! Get away from there!" Hella shouted hoping he'd hear it, but with the wind picking up, he couldn't, and what was worse was the wind was getting stronger, threatening to blow him off the edge, to which suddenly it did as they all watched in horror as went over.

Hella and Astrid screamed in panic, Stoick, Gobber and Fishlegs watched in horror at the whole event.

Hiccup however was way ahead and knew what would happen, he quickly grabbed a rope from the shelf, jump out of the forge window, making a lasso on one end of the rope along the way tying the other end around his waist, and ran straight for the cliff.

He throws the lassoed end of the rope around a nearby stump before jumping off the edge, straighten his body out to make himself more streamlined so he could catch up to the screaming boy.

Fern was falling fast, but Hiccup was catching up to him.

The crashing wave at the bottom were coming closer and closer to the pair.

As soon as Hiccup got closer enough to Fern, he took his opportunity and grabbed him, holding close to his body before turning his own body so that his back was the first to hit the water instead of his front which was holding Fern tightly.

He knew this was going to hurt badly but it was the only way.

 **Crash!**

Hiccup hit the water hard, he felt the intense pain in his back, as the force of the impact shatter a few of his ribs.

But he forced himself not to pass out, he needed to hold on, he had to get this boy to safety.

Meanwhile up on the cliff, the villagers gathered around in shock and horror as they saw Hiccup jump off to rescuing the young Hofferson boy.

Risking his own life.

Everyone just looked on as Astrid and Fishlegs were pulling on the rope Hiccup used to tie onto the stump.

Upon seeing this the villagers helped pull the rope too, thus dragging Hiccup and fern out of the freezing cold water.

Once the two were safely back up on dry land, Hella took her son from Hiccup and Hugged him tightly, thanking the Gods he was alright.

Hiccup only smiled seeing mother and son reunited before allowing himself to pass out.

As soon as he did, Stoick immediately pick up his son and rushed him all the way to Gothi's, completely scared for Hiccup.

Astrid meanwhile had been comforting his little brother but looked on when Hiccup passed out.

She she had heard about what an impact on water could do to an adult, but someone of Hiccups stature was an entirely different situation.

She was worried for him as she watch the chief quickly carry Hiccups unconscious form to Gothi's.

She wanted to help him.

She wanted to make sure he pulled through.

But she paused as to how she was going to do that.

And then she remembered something, the first time Hiccup was here when he accidentally crushed his hand with his hammer, she blushed remembering his swearing.

But she also remember that foul-smelling liquid Hiccup put on his hand, it seemed to have work since the next time he came back it was as good as new, like it never got a hammer on it.

She wondered if it worked on a broken hand that it would work on Hiccups current condition.

So while everyone was heading towards Gothi's, Astrid rushed towards the forge and into Hiccup's room there.

She was sure Hiccup would have left his bag in there until he needed it.

But as she made it into his room, she spotted something that totally mesmerized her.

All the walls were covered in parchment of drawings, and good one's at that.

She saw one of a grassy hillside overlooking the village and forest in so perfect detail that it felt like she was right there.

Another of a large tree with several birds nests living in it.

There were some that weren't of what he saw but what looked like designs for strange contraptions covered in runes and numbers of measurements and even explain their purpose.

She paused at one particular one however that made her blue eyes widen in awe.

Right in front of her on his desk was a drawing of her, holding her axe over her shoulder with the ocean and a sunset clearly in the background giving herself a glow to her drawn self.

Her heart was pounding seeing how much detail he put into it that she nearly forgot about why she was there.

But as she kept looking at the ocean background, she remembered the cliff incident and why she came in here.

Prying her eyes away from the drawing, she looked around until she saw his bag on the floor.

Quickly she opened before rummaging around until she saw the green box, just like last time.

She took the whole box with her as she ran out of the room, out of the forge and straight towards Gothi's hut, dodging everyone in front of her until she made it to the door only to be stopped by Gobber.

"Woah lass, yer can' go in there"

Astrid only stared back at him with protest.

"I need to get to Hiccup"

"No lass, no one can go in there" he stated still keeping himself to the door as Astrid tried to get through which was hopeless with Gobber's large size.

Gobber only sighed as gently grabbed Astrid's shoulders and made her look at him.

"Lass listen te me, no one can go in there, Gothi's orders, Hiccup was hurt very badly from the impact and fears he may not recover..." he then looked in her hand at the green box in her hand, he recognised it as Hiccup's first aid kit, but why was it in Astrid's hands?

"Lass" he whispered sternly at her so no one else could hear "why have ye got that in yer hands?"

Astrid looked around to make sure no one else was listening as she stood on her toes to get to the blacksmiths ear as she whispered her reply back.

"There's something in here that might help Hiccup recover" Gobber pulled away to look into her eyes to see if she was lying.

Looking into her eyes however all he saw was seriousness.

Finally he gave in as he looked away "I didn' see yer go pass me lass" Astrid looked puzzled at first until a second later she got the point as she sneaked past him and into Gothi's hut where she saw something that made her cringe.

Hiccup was laying on his side, shirtless with his back to her.

She saw the back was red raw and bleeding quite a lot.

He really did take a bad impact when he fell in the water, and all to save Fern.

As she moved forward however she was halted but a staff, as she looked to the holder of it she saw a stern looking Gothi boring her eyes into the young lass.

But Astrid stood firm as she held Hiccup box up, opening it up to show her the contents, taking out the jar of the saliva Hiccup used last time and handing it to her.

Gothi took it and took one whiff of it with the strong fish smell nearly knocking her off her feet, but somehow it was familiar to her.

But where.

Suddenly she looked at the jar before quickly hobbling over toward the injured boy as she start to gently rub the saliva all over his back.

She then instructed Astrid to get her a spoon and bowl by gesture of hands.

Astrid complied and soon return back with both items at hand.

Gothi wasted no time as she poured some of the saliva into the bowl, followed by several crushed herbs before mixing the contents together and quickly sticking a glob of it into Hiccup mouth.

Even though he was unconscious, he still gave a disgusted expression as the gooey liquid slid down his throat.

Gothi, satisfied with what she had done left to inform the chief of the situation, but not before instructing Astrid to watch over him.

As she left, Astrid grabbed a nearby stool and sat next to Hiccups head watching his breathe deeply as she contemplated what had happened through all this.

His banishment, her sudden nightmares, the failed Outcast ambush, her losing her axe only to find out Hiccup had not only risked his life to save it, he even restore it to all it's glory, to him nominating her as the heir of Berk, bringing honour to her family once again and now to risking his life once again to save her little brother.

Why did it all connect between her and Hiccup so easily?

Why has fate entwined them like this?

And why was she feeling like this?

She never used to in the past, but seeing him now how much he had shown himself capable of not only fending for himself but using his own mind to his advantage.

She had to admire him for that.

But why?

But that could wait for now she only wished for Hiccup to be okay.

She sat there for a good while until tiredness caught up with her as she decided to lay her head down for a little while.

Unfortunately her nightmare plagued her once again, not as bad as they were in the past, dark figure everywhere taking women and children and killing the men.

She was so afraid that unknowingly back in the normal world, she gripped hold of Hiccups hand.

He woke up slowly seeing Astrid in some sort of nightmare if her facial expression had anything to go by.

So slowly, as not to disturb her or cause him anymore pain, he grip hold of her hand as he laid his head upon hers.

Back in her nightmares Astrid didn't know what to do until a bright light destroyed the dark figures with what looked like a dragons blast.

One by one they fell as the captured women and children we set free and the dead men came back to life as they carried on a normal as if nothing happened.

As soon as Astrid was smiling back in the real world, Hiccup looked around and surveyed where he was.

He recognized it straight away as Gothi's hut, having been here on multiple occasions.

He recalled jumping off the cliff to save young Fern, the shear pain as his back hit the water and then blacking out.

He seemed to have a strange familiar taste in his mouth and as he felt his back he felt it all sticky, as he looked at his hand to find flakes of dried blood on his hand but no pain in his back whatsoever.

As he was wondering what happened, the door opened revealing Gothi, hobbling in Followed by Gobber and Stoick as they saw him up and about which confused the two.

"Blimey lad yer up quickly, I know Gothi's the bes' at healing bu' not tha' fast" he chuckled earning a smack in the face by a disgruntled Gothi.

Stoick however was relieved that his son was okay.

"Son how do you feel?" he said wanting to hug him but thought better of it since he might bring back the pain.

Hiccup cracked his neck as he stretched his back before replying "a little sore but nothing broken" he said it so calmly that it confused the two even more.

"Son you took a nasty fall, its a miracle you're able to walk at all" Stoick said with concern.

But Hiccup shrugged it off "I actually do feel fine, thanks to Gothi here" he said gesturing to the old healer who instructed the two to go outside a second as she scribe in the dirt that she wanted to examine Hiccup further to make sure he was okay.

Confused but shrugged it off the two large Vikings headed through the door, closing it behind him.

Once she knew they were gone she gestured for hiccup to sit down as she handed him his jar back with several herb before doing something she hasn't done in over fifty years.

She whispered into his ear.

"Put this on once a day and take one spoon full with these herbs" she checked to see if Astrid was still sound asleep as she whispered something into the already stunned Hiccup's ear.

"Make sure no one knows about your Night fury lad, not yet anyway" Hiccup pulled away and looked at her completely shocked.

Not only did he hear her speak but also she know he has a Night fury.

But before he could say anything she smile and taps her nose, indicating him to keep this a secret as she hand him the jar back.

She gesture to him that he's okay to leave so he puts his shirt back on, picks up his box, putting the jar back into it and into his bag before heading out.

Unaware that Astrid was just waking up and seeing him gone.

She panicked at first until Gothi gestured to the door indicating he was outside.

Hiccup meanwhile was being bombarded by many of the villagers on his heroic rescue.

"Nice save Hiccup"

"Yer very quick on yer feet, good thing too"

"You showed bravery there lad, good on yer"

This went on for several minutes with people praising him for it.

It made a nice change to people calling him a menace.

As he made it to the village centre he was stopped by the tall figure known as Agusto Hofferson looking down at the auburn haired boy with his infamous stern look and his arms folded.

"So I heard you made my daughter the next heir of Berk,is that correct?"

Hiccup gulped before nodding quickly.

"And you were the one who jumped off the cliff to save Fern, is that also true?"

Hiccup hadn't been so terrified in his life, he had heard rumours about the Hoffersons and their infamous berserker rage, but still gave him a nod.

"Then I have one thing to say to you lad"

Hiccup was getting ready for anything he was going to be dealt.

But it never came as he was lifted of the ground and given a great big hug from the Hofferson head.

"Thank you Hiccup, you've done so much for my family without even asking for anything in return" he said before putting the stunned boy down.

"Anytime sir" he said trying to get his bearings back.

"Hiccup"

Which didn't last too long as he turned around only to find Astrid looking at him with half the village watching over both.

"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted as she ran towards him, tackling him with a hug before doing something no one ever expected, even her.

She kissed him, deeply on the lips, stunning Hiccup first, then the village then finally Astrid after she realized what she was doing.

She pulled apart from his lips and backed away slowly.

She didn't why she did that, what possessed her to do it.

She was having very mixed emotions as she did the only thing she could think of.

She ran straight through the village and into the forest.

Meanwhile Hiccup was just standing there dazed and confused at what transpired with only one sentence coming to mind.

"What in the nine realms just happened?"


	10. Chapter 10- I didn't know

**Hi guy supersandman here, back from the dead, sorry been a while, a lot of shit to deal with over the last few months, a bout of depression, writers block (and too stubborn to ask for help) and some other things too...**

 _ **He's taken up a hobby of homebrewing...hic**_

 **Shut it wade! Sorry seems this annoying little prick still around, and have you been at my ale again wade?**

 _ **Errr...hic! No**_

 **Lier!**

 _ **Well what do you expect, you make booze and I drink it!**_

 ***Sigh* you see what I have to put up with?**

 **Anyway here is chapter 10 of survivalist, enjoy.**

 **Chapter 10-I didn't know**

It had been several months since Hiccup not only, given the title of heir to the eldest of the Hofferson offspring Astrid but also saved her little brother from a deadly impact off a cliff and even getting a surprising kiss from her too.

And yet Hiccup was still trying to understand what it meant.

Did she like him?

Or was it a simple reaction to that days events and she wanted to thank him.

He did want to find out but every time he tried to get near her she would make some excuse up that she had to help her dad out or chieftain training, any excuse so she could get away.

In the end Hiccup just sighed and concluded that it was just a simple thank you kiss and left it at that.

Meanwhile Astrid was in thoughts of her own as she was in her usual spot in the forest, attacking trees.

She didn't understand herself why she kissed Hiccup, a hug, understandable as he had recovered very quickly all of a sudden.

But to kiss him full on the lips was definitely not an Astrid thing to do.

She spent all her free time thinking it over in her head, trying to find some logic in what she did.

Was it an act of Loki trying to trick her?

No she was in control of her own mind that was for certain.

Was it to do with her hormones?

She recently had her first cycle which would lead to her moods changing so suddenly, but that happened after the kiss.

Did she like Hiccup?

Not like in as a friend but like like?

She was uncertain of that although it did plague her mind.

But she decided to leave it at that until she was one hundred percent certain as she looked up to the sky seeing it go red, indicating the sun was setting.

She loved the sunset, it was a beautiful sight and often just headed toward the cliff to get a better view always wonder what it would be like to touch the clouds and find out what they felt like.

But sighed as she knew it was impossible.

Vikings can't fly.

The only way would be on a dragon.

She scoffed at that idea as she turned towards home.

"Who would be crazy enough to ride a dragon?"

 **Meanwhile, high up in the sky**

A black blur zoomed higher and higher into the air, not slowing down one bit as a familiar roar echoed from it, followed by screams of excitement as the black blur finally slowed and and free-fall from the sky.

Hiccup, after a long day of helping out the village, got back home and without hesitation jumped onto his Night fury friend, Toothless as the two had fun doing all sorts of dangerous stunts and manoeuvres, like they do every night.

"What you say bud, up for a game of catch the Hiccup?" Hiccup said as he patted the side of the black dragons scaly head earn an approving roar before standing up onto Toothless' back as he suddenly jumped off, plummeting all the way down.

Toothless however didn't seem worried, far from it, he was excited as he followed suit and plummets downward too, tucking in his wings so he can catch up to his human companion.

Meanwhile with Hiccup, who was going faster and faster as gravity did its job of bringing him back down, had his eyes closed, screaming all the way.

Screaming with excitement that is.

Hiccup loved the rush of wind and the adrenaline he got from it.

When he did open his eyes, he was met with the sight of Toothless staring back at him with a big grin upon his scaly face and his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as it flapped due to the rushing wind.

"Hey there" Hiccup said calmly as he grinned "fancy meeting you in a place like this"

This caused Toothless to roll his eyes, having heard Hiccup witty humour a dozen times, something that brought a charm to the young boy whom managed to break the infernal monster's control on him.

As they neared close to the water, Toothless moved his wings slightly, causing him to quickly turn until he was underneath Hiccup, who landed with a thud upon the saddle on his back.

Hiccup learnt through trial and error about having something soft to land on every time Toothless caught him.

Safely in the saddle, Toothless flapped his wings as they ascended once more towards an awaiting Stormcutter, who was watching the whole thing along with an amused, yet slightly worried Valka as she watch her only son not only perform quite a few impressive and dangerous stunts, but also jumping off at a high altitude, plummeting towards the cold waters below only to land back on his dragon at the last second.

She sighs however, seeing Hiccup in the few months they were reunited pull stupid yet crazy stunts only to come out with not even a scratch.

Hiccup and Toothless finally got level with Cloudjumper as Valka only grins at her son excited look on his face from the rush.

"One of these days you're gonna give yer old mother a heart attack with those stunts" she tried to say sternly but couldn't help but chuckle as both Hiccup and Toothless gave her a pleading look of sorry, making their eyes bigger than usual.

'Like rider like dragon' she thought to herself as they headed back to the sanctuary to as a spot of lunch.

Safe to say Hiccup made lunch.

 **A little while later at the sanctuary**

As they were eating, Valka couldn't help but notice the distant look on her son's face, this was not the first time however as he had done this several times before but she never questioned it until now.

She just thought it was something to do with her at first and gave him his space to let him talk to her about it.

But now as she observes his expression, she notices how his eyebrows arch like he's confused about something.

Then she began to think when it all started, when did he start acting like this.

Suddenly she remembered.

The incident involving the young Hofferson lad falling off the cliff.

'But why would that confuse Hiccup?' she thought to herself as she recalled everything Hiccup told her about it.

But it was near the end where he hesitated to say anything.

'Could that be what's got him like this?'

She decided to she wanted to find out, hoping to help her son any way she could.

She coughed loudly, catching the attention of Hiccup as he looked at her.

"Mom? What's up?"

Valka smiled as she sat closer to him before she spoke.

"Hiccup dear, you seem a little distracted as of late" she said to him as he looked away not wanting to be confronted.

"I-I don't know w-what you mean mom!" he said as his voice started to go higher, something Valka found out about when Hiccup was both being nervous and lying about it.

"Come on son, I've only known you for only a little while but I can tell when you're hiding something, motherly instincts and all" she informed him as he still wouldn't talk, so she took a deep breath and decided just to go straight from the honey to the hatchet, as Stoick used to put it.

"Could it be something to do with that incident with saving young Fern Hofferson" she watched as he reaction never changed so she carried on "or, am I thinking it's another certain Hofferson, one you gave the title of heir to" she watched as he saw him blink quite rapidly as she finished off her sentence.

"Astrid"

That one word changed Hiccup as tried to look away trying to hide the blush rising upon his cheeks.

But it was too late as Valka, having realised what had happened, put her hand over her mouth, trying to suppress a giggle.

"Oh great all-father, she kissed you didn't she?" she finished off saying as Hiccup sighed before slowly nodding as he replied.

"It was nothing really mom, just a quick kiss, she was more likely just overwhelmed with everything that had happened on that day, with me giving her the title of heir to saving her brother, It's enough to drive anyone insane..."

"...not to mention saving and restoring her axe" Valka said interrupting him mid sentence.

"yeah that too" he whispered.

"Did you ask her what it was about? The kiss I mean" Valka asked as Hiccup shook his head.

"I tried but every time I did, she would say she's busy and avoids me whenever possible, so I assumed she was embarrassed for kissing a useless runt like..." he did get to finish his sentence as Toothless, who was hearing the whole thing, smacked his rider over the head with his tail causing Valka to grin.

"Thank you Toothless" she said, Ignoring her son mutter 'useless reptile' under his breath as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Trust me Hiccup, if Toothless hadn't done it, I would have, because no matter what dear, you are not useless! You may be on the small side compared to the big burly dumb Vikings, but that doesn't make you useless!" she said sternly as she reached her hand over to his head, gently turning it so both their eyes met.

"It's means you work harder than any of them so you're not frowned upon, I've seen your inventions in the cove Hiccup, things that would benefit a place like Berk with it's harsh weather and dragon attacks. Compared to anyone in the village, your father included, they are more useless than you so don't sell yourself short son" she said said softly this time as she rubbed the side of his head from he was smacked, earning a smile from the boy.

Hiccup knows he's come a long way from what he was but the scars from long ago still hurt him and still bring him down from time to time so it was nice to know from a few people that he wasn't what everyone used to call him.

Despite all the low self esteem moment he was having he was still unsure about his other situation with Astrid.

But it seems like Valka read his mind as she began to speak again.

"And as for Astrid, believe me when I say it wasn't just an overwhelming moment for her dear, she wanted to kiss you, guessing by all that happened, it gave her the push to do it. The reason she's avoiding you most likely because she's confused herself on why, so give her time son to come to terms and then you'll have your answer" she finished off by kissing his forehead before giving him a hug.

Hiccup only smiled as he took in the hug and letting his mothers words sink in.

'maybe she's right, I just have to wait to see what happens'

In the meantime he was pondering on another thing on his mind.

Ever since Snoggletog he was determined to make the jian, but in order to do so he would need to make it out of bronze. After reading up on several books from Gobber workshop and others that Johan usually sold from his travels, making the metal will be no problem, there was only one thing which would hold him back.

Where to find the copper and tin necessary to make it.

He had spent a good portion of his flights on Toothless travelling from island to island, searching for any sign of the ores.

He realised long ago he could make it out of iron, the archipelago, particularly Berk, was pack full of the ore, he could have made the weapon within a few days to a week plus the detailing.

But it seemed so Viking to Hiccup.

Something he knew he was not, not in his mind at least.

He thought differently to others, making him unique.

Just like the jian in his eyes, so wanted to go by how it was made, using bronze, until he could come up with a new material to replace it with.

But that was his problem.

He had checked many of the surrounding islands that make up the archipelago and found nothing.

He checked on the surface, he checked in caves, and thanks to his mom's help using a few of the boulder class dragons, including a whispering death, much to Toothless' distaste, deep underground.

But still nothing.

With all this happening plus with Astrid, ways to improve in survival, keeping his dad from finding out about Toothless and learning about dragons in general, he was surely to have a headache from this.

"Ugh, I'm getting too old for this shit" he mumbled, forgetting he was in the presence of his mother, who by this smacked him on the back of his head.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third! Language!" she scolded, pointing her index finger at him.

"Norse!" he retorted, rolling his eyes.

Valka merely shook her head as she lightly chuckled.

"You do remind me a lot of your father back we were young"

Hiccup looked at her in surprise, he was never told much about his father as a boy his age.

Gobber could talk about the adventures they had as young adults when they first met but the old blacksmith's family traveled a lot in his youth and only settled back on Berk at the age of seventeen, so never knew Stoick as a kid.

Non of the other villagers would talk to him about it either, more because they were trying to avoid him.

Maybe grandparents would have told him, if they were still alive.

His paternal grandmother died during a bad winter back when Stoick was a teen, his grandfather passed away, shortly after Stoicks twenty-fifth birthday, making him next in line for chief.

His maternal grandmother died in childbirth to Valka leaving only his grandfather to raise her.

His grandfather, old wrinkly as they called him, it was unknown what happened to him. According to Gobber, who talked to Stoick about it, he went on a fishing trip by himself one day and never returned, most speculated he was swallowed by the sea.

So no one really could tell him what his father was really like as a kid.

Until now.

"Mom can I ask you what dad was like as a kid" he said taking her by surprise.

"Has no one in Berk ever told you" she ask as Hiccup shook his head making her sigh "figures as much, they were like that with me when I was young all because I was different too"

"How so?" Hiccup asked as he sat back down to listen to his mother talk.

"I wasn't much of a fighter, or a cook or even anything that made me like a traditional woman in the village, didn't have a female role model growing up, just me and my pops, he tried to do his best, taught me how to fish, to hunt and set traps, some things at that time women weren't suppose to do"

"but they do now back on Berk" Hiccup interjected.

Valka merely smiled "thanks to your father once he became chief, but before then it was uncommon and weird for women on Berk to be practicing skill such as that, so you could imagine I was shunned just like you were, beaten up on a daily basis. Until your father stepped in and showed them how he got the nickname 'the vast' years later, no one messed with him, but deep down he was a big softy, found that out after he saved me, I decided to follow him into the forest. Now where most assumed he was training, building up his strength, I found out he went there to pick flowers"

Hiccup, who'd had taken a sip out of his mug at the time, spat it back out as he quickly look at Valka "what? You mean Stoick the vast? The man people say when he was a baby, popped a dragons head clean off its shoulders? The same man?" this made Valka raise one of her eyebrows in confusion.

"Is that what they same nowadays?" she chuckled as she carried on "but yes, the same man used to pick flowers, he said that from among the chaos of raids from both Viking and dragons alike, there was still beauty and peace in that part of the forest that he liked, it was there I learnt a few things about Berks future chief, quickly becoming friends and eventually falling in love, in fact it was in the forest itself where he proposed to me. Usually we had to wait until a contract was set up first, but you father loved to break the rules, was a regular thing for him"

"No, that can't be right, he's all about following rules and keeping order" Hiccup said, not believing his father was a troublemaker.

"Now that he's chief but back in his youth he used to cause all sort of mischief, both of us did once in a while, like the time his hammered in every single peg leg in Berk to the fishing boats as they set sail" Valka stopped as she started to laugh "you could say the villagers were hopping mad that day" this got Hiccup laughing.

After a while Hiccup managed to control his laughter as he wanted to ask another question.

"You said he was like me when he was younger, but how?"

Valka just looked at his as she stopped laughing before being serious "because like you Hiccup, Stoick was different too, just no one really saw the real him and he kept it to himself, just like you son, no one knows the real Hiccup, I've seen you ride Toothless son, you're a natural, I just wish others could see the same way as us"

"maybe one day they will"

Valka merely scoffed "yeah and silent Sven will break his vow of silence" she said sarcastically.

Hiccup however didn't believe that it was impossible, hard yes but never impossible, he'd just have to find the right moment.

He looked outside to see the sun starting to set, realising it was time to go home before anyone such as Gobber worries.

He got up, hugged his mother goodbye before jumping on Toothless and zooming back to Berk with two thoughts on his mind.

Would others see the real him one day or will he keep it bottled up just like his father did.

And could there be peace between Vikings and dragons one day?

As he said to himself earlier:

It'll be hard yes... but not impossible


	11. Chapter 11-Of blades and daggers

**Well I did say I would be back to carry on with this, getting some of my confidence back in writing, always a pain when you got the plot but trying to word it in a way that'll go down well.**

 _ **And he keeps playing world of warcraft.**_

 **And you wade are a thrush.**

 _ **What do you mean by that?**_

 **That you're an irritating c...**

 _ **Sandman no, not in front of the kids!**_

 _ **I'm sure they've heard worse. Anyway on with the chapter.**_

 **Chapter 11- Of blades and daggers**

Several months had past since the conversation with his mother and still wondered to this day if he should be like his father and bottle up the true him, whenever he finds out who he truly is, or let the whole of Midgard see for themselves what he can do.

On top of that he was no closer to finding the veins of tin and copper needed to make bronze for his jian design.

So far he had made it out of wood to get a more accurate look at what he would be wielding. The oriental design was a smaller design than the hulking swords Vikings used, making it easier to manoeuvre for a frame such as Hiccup.

But other little problem was that he didn't know how to actually fight.

Sure he he managed to take out the outcasts in the forest, but exhaustion from travelling via boat, running through the forest and avoiding Hiccup various obstacles played a key factor in his victory, all he needed to do was finish them off.

And sure he took down the Snotlout, the twins and Mildew easily but that was more to do with them underestimating him, leaving their guard wide open.

Combat itself against someone who didn't give a damn about what he looked like, he wouldn't stand a chance.

He thought about asking someone, the question was who?

He can't ask the village or his father, as much as they accepted his help, he still couldn't trust them fully.

He didn't want to ask Gobber, the man had done so much for him already.

Maybe someone outside of Berk perhaps?

'Perhaps' Hiccup thought to himself as he felt the hand-crafted jian in his left hand.

Quite odd consider most would use their right hand as their weapon hand, but Hiccup found out during his times attacking trees that the swings from his left was stronger than his right and considering he learnt a long time that he was an odd kid, why change.

He gave the jian a few good swings like he would an axe, swinging wide and wild.

So much so that he lost grip of it and it flew into a nearby tree where a certain pissed off night fury was snoozing away, well was until he saw a projectile coming his was and ducked quickly.

"Opps sorry Toothless" Hiccup skittishly said trying not to laugh as the black dragon glared at him before grumbling as he headed to the lake while Hiccup attempted to retrieve his weapon embedded in the trunk of the tree.

As Hiccup struggled to pull the sword from the tree, he didn't notice the familiar stormcutter and his rider land in the cove until a pair of hands helped him retrieve the weapon only for him to turn his head to see his mother standing looking puzzled at the odd non-viking sword.

"Interesting...design" she mutter as she gave it a few swings as it felt it to be lighter than the wooden practice swords she used to train with as a kid.

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck as he explained what the sword is called and where it originated from as Valka listened on, quite impressed at how Hiccup chose the most non-viking thing as his weapon of choice.

"Impressive son" was all she could say after he finished, but he still looked down.

"It is mom, just two major problems" he said as his hands moved about, something his mother found out whenever he went into detail about things.

"One is getting the material to make it, the book explains about how they made it out of bronze, but so far finding the necessary tin and copper has proven difficult"

"And the other?"

He sighed heavily at hat he was about to say, feeling embarrassed to say it.

"I don't know how to fight"

He lazily picked up a nearby stone and threw it in the lake making it skip to the other side while Valka looked at the sword, then her son and finally the book that detailed the sword.

She was thinking back to what her father had taught her about swords when they used to go on their own camping trips.

Suddenly a smile came upon her face as she knew what to do, but she'd have to wait until Hiccups birthday.

Lucky enough it was in two weeks time.

But before she could help Hiccup with that situation she can help him with the other.

She walked up to him and embraced him until he looked at her.

"Son, I will tell you this for one thing, finding copper and tin in the archipelago it nigh on impossible, the mainlands is your only best bet or if one of the merchants sell it"

Hiccup looked down, understanding what his mother was on about.

"...however" Hiccup looked up to his mother again as she carried on.

"You don't need to use bronze for it to be a weapon just because the book says so, I've only known you for a while son but I do know you like to give things a 'Hiccup flare'" she chuckled making Hiccup smile and blush at the same time, he had to admit she was right, he never followed rule if it meant his disadvantage, it was how he was able to survive for this long.

"so why don't you use another metal that'll make it unique just like the wielder"

Hiccup thought through what she said, another metal? He mentally kicked himself for not thinking it through.

The question now is what other metal to use?

This was something he'd have to think on later as he spent time with his mother until she needed to go, he was happy he got to spend time with her but he also knew her work at the dragon sanctuary was important.

Hopefully by the time she came back he'll have come up with something.

 **Two weeks later**

"Alright ye lot! Get that banner up and keep it straight this time" was all that can be heard along with the several barked orders from Stoick around the village as they got ready to celebrate something.

And that something was Hiccups twelfth birthday.

Stoick and most of the villagers felt guilty for the boy, not only was he falsely accused by them and exiled from living in the village, but he also still thought about them as to appoint Astrid the heir since he couldn't come back officially for another five years, but saved the young Hofferson boy from plummeting to his doom and even took on the surprise attack by the outcasts, on his own birthday which they all completely forgot, even his own father.

But this year would be different, they remembered this time and are determined to make up for their past mistakes.

Or at least try.

As the preperations were under way ready for Hiccups surprise a certain blond shield-maiden was wondering what she could do for him for all that he'd done for her.

She was still trying to get her head around kissing him and wondered if it meant anything or a spur of the moment thing.

But she shook her head of that as she wondered what she could do for Hiccup.

She could bake him something, but thinking through it was a bad idea as it might kill him as she can't cook to save her own life.

Same went for crafting.

The only thing she was good at was fighting, the only trait that's mostly accepted in Berk or in any Viking village when she thought about it.

As she thought about it while holding her axe, her uncles old axe that Hiccup not only rescued from her home while it was ablaze but repaired it to be like new.

Suddenly she had an idea as she quickly rushed back home and into her room as she started rummaged through her large chest at the end of her bed, throwing the contents to the side as she searched deeper until at last she came across what she was looking for.

She lift up her hand revealing something covered in an old cloth as she unwrapped it as she looked at an old dagger.

This was no ordinary dagger as it wasn't much use in combat anymore due to how old it was.

It was more sentimental.

The dagger given to her by her grandmother on her deathbed stating to one day give it to someone you care about.

It made no sense to her back then as she was determined to be a shield-maiden and have no time for caring.

Until a certain auburn haired boy showed her differently.

As she thought about it, since she never thought of love but perhaps she can give this to Hiccup a symbol of friendship.

"Yeah...friendship" she assured herself as she rewrapped the blade and headed out of the house to wait for Hiccup to come into the village.

Which didn't prove to be too long as he's seen carrying a huge pile of furs and leathers towards the trade markets, sweat dripping off him, fresh cut upon his arms and face and struggling with the weight of the goods, but too stubborn to let anyone help him as they have tried most times.

But as he gets to the market, he groans as he sees they're all shut.

"Oh come on!" he yells, he didn't need the day to get worse for him, first one of his traps snares him resulting his cutting himself lose and falling to the ground, then getting chased but a extremely pissed off boar, these explained the cuts.

He know he could have ask Toothless to help, the dragon would of, but Hiccup wanted to do this for himself, he was too stubborn in his own ways.

"'iccup?" came a familiar voice as he turns around to see Gobber hobble over to him and embrace him in a hug to which Hiccup returned.

As Gobber looked from the boy to the pile of leathers and furs, he raises his eyebrow in confusion.

"Err what's with der stuff lad?" he asked pointing towards the pile which confused Hiccup.

"It's market day Gobber" he replies as he looks at the deserted area "or so I thought"

Gobber however smacked himself over his head for his own stupidity, he forgot to tell Hiccup the market was off today.

"Sorry lad, I forgot ta tell ye it was closed today"

Hiccup simply deadpanned the old smithy as to say 'really? You don't say'

"But yer dads looking fer you in the square" Gobber carried on as he gestured for Hiccup to put the good down and follow him.

Hiccup was following, wondering what he done wrong now.

As they rounded the corner towards the square he saw a large banner stretched across as everybody jumped out.

"Surprise! Happy Birthday Hiccup!"

This stunned Hiccup, he thought they'd forgotten again, but here they were, most of the village.

Most being that those who actually liked him turned up.

But he didn't care those people didn't like him at least the others see he wasn't so useless after all.

He spent hours being greeted by many of the villagers wishing him a good day as they drank merrily.

'Yep if it's a good piss up involved, Viking will celebrate anything' Hiccup thought to himself as he enjoyed himself, talking amongst the more sober individuals, mainly Fishlegs and surprisingly Astrid.

Fishlegs talked about how his dad got him a copy of the book of dragons to read, talking about the various dragons, some things the same for the dragons 'extremely dangerous, kill on sight'.

All except the NightFury as there is no known information just 'hide and prayer it does not find you'

'Yeah or you can get licked to death' Hiccup chuckled in his head as the night drew near and most of the residence were either at home, still celebrating or over celebrated.

Fishlegs too felt tired so bid Hiccup farewell before heading home with his parents.

This left Hiccup alone with Astrid, who seemed to be avoiding his face and looking down at her hand which he noticed was holding something.

"You okay Astrid?" he asked in concern, making her look at him and smile.

"ye-yeah, just wanted to wish you a happy birthday personally and to give you something" She said as she stood up facing Hiccup as he stood up too, even if he was slightly shorter than her he still looked into her blue eyes as he handed him a wrapped object.

Hiccup accepted it and looked at it curiously as he unwrapped the fabric revealing the old blunt dagger as Astrid nervously rubbed her arm as she explained.

"It was my grandmothers, she gave it to me before she passed away, she told me that when the time came to give it to someone I care about" she looked away still rubbing her arm as she carried on "I didn't know what to think at the time, I thought you had to give it to someone you're gonna marry, which was silly since..."

"...you want to be a shield-maiden" Hiccup finished off her sentence as he smiled.

"Right! So it was left in the bottom of my chest not knowing if I'll ever use it, but I wanted to give it to you, a-as a sign of friendship of course!"

Hiccup still kept smiling as he felt a warm feeling inside of him "of course"

Astrid stopped rubbing her arm, not feeling nervous as she moved closer to Hiccup "and I'd like to be friends with you Hiccup, I really really do"

For some unknown reason both the young pre-teens seemed to be getting closer and closer to each other with their faces an inch or two apart.

 **BOOM!**

The two were knocked back as the sound echoed throughout the village as they and the rest of the villagers looked up too for something they weren't expect tonight.

"Dragon raid!"

The adults gathered weapons as the mothers, elderly and children ran for the hall.

Hiccup however wondered where the first explosion hit, seeing as no house was on fire only to get his answer as he turned to the remains of his goods.

"Oh come-fucking on!"

 _ **What?! A cliffhanger?! You sir are a dick!**_

 **I know, it's how I roll.**


	12. Chapter 12 Trial and Terror

**Hey guys this is Deadpool! Supersandman can't be here right now as he has done something incredibly stupid, he's taken on night shift at his job, so here I am doing his posting, sorting out his mail, feeding his cats playing his games and eating all his food, what the hell is a jaffa cake?! Weird Brits. Anyway He says sorry for the delay, apparently he's been suffering with a few bouts of wondering minds, to be honest, I think the dude needs to get laid. Anyway here we go and a little fair warning, this is mainly a flashback chapter but somehow ties in with the last chapter.**

 **Chapter 12 Trail and Terror**

"Another raid" sighed Hiccup as he knelt on top of the nearest hill near the village, from this vantage point he could see the chaos of yet another dragon raid.

From his side a certain NightFury grumbled in agreement not liking his fellow dragons feeding that monstrous beast of a queen, using her song to control them.

And yet Toothless himself doesn't seemed to be drawn to her song like he used to.

And it seemed to do with his bond with his human companion, it seems to stop him from being possessed by the demon.

Hiccup meanwhile was watching with a serious expression on his face at the dragons and his fellow humans try to mercilessly kill each other.

'Try' being the main word thanks to Hiccup.

He remembers how it all started on his twelfth birthday...

 _ **Flashback**_

" _oh come-fucking on!" was all Hiccup could yell as he spotted a Zippleback leave the scene of the explosion and what was the destroy remains of his goods._

 _Hiccup stood there deadpanned at the whole thing._

 _It took him all day to gather that lot so understandable that he would be pissed._

 _But before he could react any further, he hears the sound of the raid horn can be heard and as usual, every able bodied Viking, was at arms ready to attack the enemy._

 _Hiccup was dragged from his senses by all the commotion as he pulled along by Astrid away from the centre towards the forge as dragon and Viking alike attacked each other._

 _Most were angry._

 _Some were scared._

 _Hiccup however was confused._

 _He knew there were dragons raiding but after witnessing their actions when they're not raiding, how peaceful and calm they seemed even when a stranger such he is watching them, but here right now this didn't seem right to him now._

 _Even for what they were raiding. Sheep, yak, boar, chicken, even fruit and veg._

 _Hiccup had observed their diet closely for a while, they loved to hunt for fish out in the sea, away from any ships._

 _So why raid for stuff they don't usually eat?_

 _Hiccup decided to think more about it later on and head on into the forge to help Gobber with weapon preparations, hoping no deaths occur tonight on either side._

 _But before he could open the door, he suddenly had the urge to feel his sides as if he'd lost something._

 _Then it suddenly came to him._

 _The dagger was missing!_

 _The one Astrid gave him._

 _Usually for him if he misplaced any weapon he wouldn't worry too much about it but this one was personally given to him by Astrid and holds sentimental value towards it._

 _Hiccup rattled his brain trying to think where he would have left it, or where it dropped out._

 _He then remembered the explosion, it could've fallen there._

 _Hiccup, without a second thought, ran towards the square where the party had been._

 _His path wouldn't take long to get to but because of the fighting, he had to take several detours as well as avoiding any of the adults seeing him as all they'll do is drag him back towards the forge, wouldn't have been the first time._

 _He watched out for any flames coming his way or stray dragon that might think of getting lucky._

 _So far he'd gotten lucky himself as he didn't encounter anything, it seemed the main fighting was where any food or livestock was stored, even more luckier, as he got closer to the square he saw a glint of something on the floor._

 _The dagger!_

 _All he had to do was grab it, head back the way he came and into the forge, no one would be any of the wiser. What could possibly go wrong?_

 _ **He really had to say that didn't he?**_

 _Unfortunately that's where his luck ran out as he just picked up the dagger, a young Deadly Nadder lands right behind him._

 _Hiccup slowly turns around as he comes face to face with them, green eyes meeting amber as he froze on the spot._

 _'No sudden moves Hiccup' he said in his head as he took the whole dragon in._

 _With the fires as the only source of light, Hiccup could clearly see, this dragon was young, their light blue scales topped off with a white underbelly, the lighter colours indicated this Nadder was a girl, as what his mother told him about how to tell genders apart without lifting a leg._

 _But what Hiccup noticed more was the eyes, there were barely any pupils, which was odd in his case, he knew that dragons pupils can dilate when relaxed and can slit when concentrating, but this was something new, it was like they were possessed by something._

 _As he watched closely he thought of an idea after remembering some about Toothless._

 _'Was he the same before he met me?' he thought to himself_

 _'I wonder...'_

" _Hey there girl" Hiccup said softly as he slowly approached the young Nadder so as not to alarm her._

 _The dragon tilted her head from side to side as Hiccup caught the change in her pupils going from non-existent to dilate and back again as he carried on._

" _My you're a beautiful girl"_

 _The Nadder seems disgruntled, as if fighting inside her head as her eyes go back and for._

" _It's okay, it's okay, I'm not here to hurt you" he moved closer, but saw beyond her head that her tail was up, spines up ready to fire, so ended up changing tactics as he dodge the projectiles and heading behind her towards her tail remembering what his mother taught him about Nadders._

" _Smooth out their spines it helps them calm" Hiccup repeated to himself over and over again as he reached her tail and started stroking._

 _He kept looking at the Nadders eyes as they still seemed to change from one to another, he was prepared for the worse outcome if this didn't work and considering the day he's had, he wasn't taking any chances._

 _But for once the God's seem to have given him a break as the Nadders pupils dilate into round black orbs as she looked back at the boy stroking her tail._

 _She's known about how humans can be dangerous and kill on sight, this fear doubled after she was forced into the raids. But never has she seen one who didn't want to fight her, she wondered if there was some hope at peace._

 _But her thoughts were shattered as several nets were thrown over her as well as several large Vikings jumped her, wrestling her to the ground as other bound her legs and wings so she couldn't escape._

 _Looking up, all she could see was a mountain with a big red beard looking down at her with hate in his eyes as he lifted his large axe above his head._

 _He never said a single word. She shut her eyes as he prepared to deal the killing blow..._

" _Stop!"_

 _Several seconds went by until the Nadder opened her eyes to see that she wasn't dead, but only to see this same boy standing between her and her executioner._

" _Hiccup! Get out of the way! This beast need to dealt with!"_

 _Hiccup however didn't move._

" _No dad wait! Just listen for once what I have to say" he said keeping eye contact with his father as the others look on._

 _Sighing, Stoick can be stubborn in his ways, but so can his son, double that thanks to Valkas share._

" _I'm listening"_

 _Hiccup, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he always hate speaking out in public for fear of ridicule, starts to speak._

" _Okay I know we have a 'kill on sight' motto when it comes to dragons, but we also need to learn how to fight them for future generations"_

 _His father looks on in interest "Go on?"_

" _Well seeing as we don't exactly have a Nadder anymore in the arena, it might be time for a new younger one to take up the role"_

" _The lads right Stoick, the last one escaped during the last raid and never been seen since" Gobber butted in to confirm what Hiccup was suggesting is true causing several Vikings to nod and agree._

 _Stoick looked from his son to the crowd and finally to the pinned Nadder as he pinched the bridge of his nose, something he did when thinking or annoyed about something._

 _He finally sighed in defeat, he knew his son was right, he knew Gobber and the others were right, even if he wanted to kill every single dragon he came across, he knew the next generation of Vikings need to learn._

" _Very well, seeing as its your birthday, I'll let you have this one request" he says as to orders the ones who have pinned the Nadder down to take her to the arena to be locked up before walking away to access the damage the raid has caused among the village._

 _Hiccup however looked at the Nadder in sorrow, he didn't want to have her locked up, but he didn't want to see her die either, to his surprise though, the Nadder understood the dilemma and gave him a slow wink, indicating she didn't blame him._

 _The crowd dispersed to start up the clean up duties, all except Hiccup and Gobber who decided to smack the boy around the head with his hook._

" _What were ye thinking lad running off like that?! Ya had me worried! I thought ye'd been killed!" Gobber yelled at him making Hiccup feeling guilty, he knew Gobber wasn't angry at him but scared for him, sort of that father son relationship they shared, he didn't want Gobber to feel scared._

" _Sorry Gobber, I..I didn't mean to run off like that but" he finished off by showing the dagger Astrid gave him to which Gobber recognised from his younger days when her grandmother used to bring it to the shop for cleaning and sharpening. He was quite surprised to see it in Hiccups possession even after explaining it was a gift from Astrid._

 _That's when the old smithy grinned, he knew how much that blade meant to the young lass and thought of the ways to tease the young Haddock about it._

" _Guessin' that lass got a little thing about ye"_

 _Those simple words made the young boy blush._

" _Wh-what?! Don't be silly Gobber! Sh-she sees me more as a friend!" Hiccup spluttered, not convincing Gobber at all that it's anything but a simple gift as he carried on "I mean, yeah I like her but she's way out of my league, she's smart, strong, a bright future ahead of her, she could get anyone she wanted, why would she settle for...this?!" he finished off by gesturing to himself to which Gobber pointed out._

" _Ye just Gestured to all of ye?" this caused Hiccup to roll his eyes in the irony, usually everyone gestured to him and he'd be the one remarking them._

 _Hiccup took a quick glance up at the sky seeing the retreating dragons going in one direction, he had an idea about something, but needed Toothless for it._

 _But first he needed to get back to the cove._

" _Yeah anyway.." he faked a yawn and started walking towards the forest "I'm getting tired, long day and all, I'll see you around Gobber!" after that he ran of leaving a confused Gobber behind as to Hiccups sudden departure but still stood in the same spot until Hiccup was out of sight before sighing._

" _I know ya have feelings for him lass, and I know you won't express em or follow em" he said as he turned around watching a nearby house only for Astrid to step out of the shadows looking shocked and confused._

" _H-how did you..."_

" _When ya known 'iccup for as long as I have ya can pick up on when he wants ta be not seen" he walks away but stops before leaving the young Hofferson by herself "and I'm right what I said, just think abou' how ye want te approach it, kinda like yer mother in many ways" he finally walks away leaving Astrid to ponder over his and Hiccups conversation and what Gobber told her with one thought in her head._

" _Do I like Hiccup?"_

 _ **Meanwhile**_

 _Hiccup makes it back to the cove in half the time it usually takes him, he doesn't want the trail to go cold, he's got to find out what's possessing the dragons to raid for stuff they don't need._

 _Luckily for him as he reached the cove, Toothless was there waiting for him, he seemed disturbed as he looked up at the sky knowing about the raids._

" _Maybe whatever controlling the others their range hasn't made it this far" Hiccup thought to himself as he runs the final lengths to reach Toothless, giving himself a few seconds to catch his breath._

 _Toothless croons and yaps at Hiccup as if asking what's the matter before Hiccup answers him after letting his breath catch up with him._

" _Bud, can you take me to where the other dragons go after the raids?" Hiccup saw the fear in his ebony friends eyes, he can sense Toothless doesn't want to go back there until Hiccup placed his hand upon his snout and rubbing it to calm the Night Fury down._

" _Easy bud, I know you don't want to but I need to know, you're not going it alone, I'm here for you bud"_

 _This was enough for Toothless to calm down, he knew if he went back there alone, it'll try to take control again, but maybe Hiccup can keep it from doing that, after all, he broke the control once._

 _With that Toothless agreed as he positioned himself to take of as soon as Hiccup had set up the saddle and was comfortable upon him, as soon as he was given the go he shot up in the air and heading north towards their destination._

 _Despite their mission upon discovering the cause of the raids, the duo still enjoyed the night sky to fly up as high as they could go, why waste the opportunity when they might face a danger beyond them._

 _Hiccup loved the feeling of flying, what it feels like to be a dragon, the feeling of freedom._

" _Now I know why mom never wanted to return bud, why miss this to be something you're not" he said patting Toothless on the side of his neck earning him a croon as they carried on._

 _For several long minutes it felt like the trail had indeed gone cold until Toothless' ears perked up getting Hiccups attention. Before he could ask what was up, several dragon came into view at the side of them followed by more until a whole raiding party of dragons surrounded them._

 _Hiccup stayed as low as he could to avoid being spotted, but it didn't matter as the dragons focus was in front of them as they entered a large veil of fog surrounded by mass towers of rocks and remains of ships._

" _Helheims gate" Hiccup whispered as they weaved around the large stacks and obstacle until they came out of the fog and onto an island with a large mountain in the centre surrounded by dragons._

" _The nest" he said in awe as they flew up into the top revealing a magma core inside "boy what dad would give to find this place bud" he finished off as they land in a shadowy area, watching as the raiding parties dropped their kill into the bottom._

" _Well so nice to know our food isn't going to waste" he said sarcastically until he kept thinking if they're not eating it, then who is._

 _His thoughts we're interrupted by a Terrible Terror dropping a small fish out of its talons with it to follow the rest of the other stuff._

 _Suddenly a grow was heard below which put the fear into not only Hiccup but all the dragons as a giant head rushes upwards towards the Terror and biting down upon it before it could escape._

 _Hiccup didn't like this one bit as he jumped onto Toothless as the large head started to sniff around._

" _Okay bud time to go now!" Hiccup yelled as Toothless stood there unresponsive until Hiccup yelled again, knocking the Night Fury out of his trance just in time as the large dragon head was about to take a bite out of them but missed due to Toothless' speed._

 _Heading upwards and avoiding the oncoming rocks and dragons, the pair soon made it towards the top and back into the sky._

 _But their ordeal wasn't over yet as a dozen dragons, under the large dragons control no less, followed them. Hiccup knew at this point heading back to Berk would be a bad idea but then he had another one as he urged Toothless to head south as they avoided the fire and projectiles from their perusers._

 _For over an hour they carried on and the other dragons seemed to not be slowing down their pursuit._

" _Come on bud a little further, we're almost there" Hiccup urged Toothless on, they knew what the other was thinking and the Night Fury knew what the plan was as he purposely slowed down to let the other dragons catch up until they finally made their destination._

 _The dragon sanctuary._

 _Hiccup hoped that with the other dragon so far away that the call would lessen enough for the Bewilderbeast to take control._

 _They flew into the open crack of the icy fortress, followed by the others as they made their way to the centre before coming to a halt in front of Valka._

" _Hiccup? Toothless? What are you..."_

" _No time mom, we need the king!" Hiccup interrupted her as the possessed dragon land as well in front of them backing all three toward the edge._

 _Suddenly they we're overshadowed by the arrival of the alpha himself as the pursuing dragons look up in awe, their eyes going from thin slits to dilated within seconds before they bow gracefully. With that, the dragons were docile before flying off to join the others in the sanctuary._

 _Valka looked on in curiosity as to where the dragons came from before hearing the pair behind her laughing on the floor at the whole situation._

" _Bud that was amazing! Terrifying but amazing! Now we know bud! We know!" Hiccup shouted as he laid upon the floor as Valka looked on in confusion._

" _Err what did you find son?" she asked as Hiccup ceased his laughing before sitting up and looking at her._

" _We found the nest mom and the reason the dragons raid the islands"_

" _The Queen?" Hiccup was taken aback by his mothers answer, how accurate she got to it._

" _Y-you knew?" he simple put as she nodded slowly before he pressed on "then why didn't you tell me?!" he stood up flailing his arms in different directions as she looked down._

" _I-I don't know what good it would do Hiccup"_

" _Mom we could stop the raids, stop the killing"_

" _But how Hiccup? I can't let the Bewilderbeast take her on! If he leaves then the sanctuary will be vulnerable! We can't take the dragons from here either! I'm not gonna fall into the same category as that mad man!"_

 _Hiccup pondered over the situation, he knew his mother was right but he still wanted to try._

 _Then the idea hit him._

" _Well what if I try?" Valka looked at him raising one of her eyebrows._

" _What do you mean?"_

" _I managed to lure a few dragons away from her, I managed to get Toothless out of her control, what if I can dwindle her raiding parties? Make her control weaker as she can't get her food supply?" Valka thought on as to what Hiccup was saying._

" _But Hiccup, you can't keep going back to her nest, her strength is strongest there, the only way you'll be able to do it is during..."_

" _...raids" Hiccup finished what she said knowing the situation "a risky business I know mom, since I can't let the villagers know it's me, so I need to ask mom"_

" _What do you need son?" she asked as Hiccup looked at her and smiled._

" _How many dragon scale would I need for a full suit?"_

 _Valka stood there and smiled as well as to what Hiccup was implying._

" _Dragons usually shed their scales once a week, for the amount you need I would gather about three months worth, dragon scales are tough so simply stitching them together would be difficult, maybe your smithing skills might come in handy, if you've worked with making chain mail" Hiccup simply nodded._

" _With so many Viking and their ever growing stomachs, I'm constantly readjusting their armour to compensate" he chuckled as he saw more conflict in his mothers eyes._

" _There's also the situation where the dragon may become too hostile for simply finding their weak spots you may need to handle them physically, not hurt them but for your own defence" she smiled again as she rushes to her cave before coming back with a bounded up item in her hands as she carried on._

" _Maybe this might help, happy birthday son" she says handing the item to him._

 _He looks at it for a few seconds to admire his mothers gift before removing the packaging revealing two books, one with strange symbols and writing on the cover, the other seemed a mix of both that and Norse._

" _It took me a while to find them but I have a few friends I've met outside of the archipelago who sell books from the oriental side of the world, basically where the design of your sword came from. The book with Norse and the native language of the first book is a translation guide while the other deals with handling the sword using what they call martial arts as my friend put it"_

 _Hiccup looked inside the first book, it has the other language written inside but it also showed pictures of people in different positions, as he flicked through he saw some with weapons and some without, even some disarming with their bare hands._

 _Hiccup spent A few hours looking over the books as well as the plans for his armour and the dragon raid situation with his mother before it started to get too light and decided that they'd best head home to rest._

 _Hugging his mother and thanking her for the gifts, he and Toothless head off for home, contemplating on their future tasks._

 _The suit, the studying, the raids, the queen and finally peace between dragons and humans._

 _He could only sigh as he laughed as Toothless looks on in confusion._

" _All our task at hand bud, gonna be a long while until we accomplish them may take a few years but with you by my side, we can show them. Right bud?" he received a bark from his dragonic companion in approval._

 **End of flashback**

It had been several months since then, he waited patiently each scale was wielded together to form a kind flexible armour.

The result he found not disappointing at all the scales themselves we're as black as night which came in handy during the raid that happened at night. He also found out it was quite good against fire which was a plus considering dragons and their ability to breathe the stuff.

The only downside was it wasn't strong against physical attacks, but one hitch at a time he always kept telling himself.

He stands there for a few more minutes, waiting for the right moment as he fixes his mask over his face before climbing on Toothtless as their moment has come.

"Let's go bud, our first trial run, let's make it count!"

Toothless nods before heading up into the air as they start to head around the vast darkness of the night, waiting for the first attack.

Meanwhile on the ground, while the adults did their raiding duties of fighting and tending to the wounded, the teens start their first time as the fire prevention team, their duty being throwing buckets of water over anything that's caught fire.

Shame that only one of them is focused more upon the task at hand, that being Astrid.

Fishlegs just runs about screaming when a house near him explodes, Snotlout being the stupid one by throwing his whole bucket into the flaming building instead of just the water and the Twins, well, they're sat at the side of one of the fires roasting fish.

"Will you guys get your head in the game! We need to sort out these fires pronto!" Astrid shouts, getting annoyed at the other four wishing Hiccup was here, least he would have come up with some crazy way of putting out the fire.

Then she stopped as to why she thought about Hiccup like that out of the blue.

Her thoughts are halted as a building starts to collapse in front of her and worse still is about to crush her.

She realise she hasn't got time to escape, she's doomed for she thinks to herself as she closes her eyes waiting for the flames to take her.

But they never come as she forcefully knocked out of the way by a black figure just in the nick of time.

She looks at them for a second but before she could say a word, he runs off before flying away?

She didn't know what happened or who they were, she didn't even get a chance to thank them. Soon she saw around as less and less dragons were in the air but as some were heading in their usual direction, a handful were heading the complete opposite way.

"That's strange?" she said to herself.

"What's strange Astrid?" She turns around to see Hiccup standing there looking confused.

She wanted to say what she saw but it might sound crazy, even to Hiccup, but instead punched him in the arm before hugging him catching him off guard.

"Err Astrid, are you okay?"

"Of course I am you dork I'm just glad you're safe is all, I didn't see you all raid" she opened her eyes and realised what she said as she looked away so Hiccup didn't see her blush "err what I meant is I didn't want to explain to you dad that you got hurt is all" she said hoping he'd buy that.

"Yeah well I was in my house when I heard the horn, and you know what my dad would say 'stay in da forest Hiccup or they might mistake ye for a toothpick!'" he said with his fathers accent trying to lighten the mood which worked as Astrid tried not to laugh.

"Well now you're safe I can, inform the others as well, see you" she say as she runs off leaving a slightly amused Hiccup standing there.

He knew what she saw considering it was him that saved her.

He looks up into the air as some of the dragons head towards the sanctuary as they planned, lucky with not much conflict or hostilities.

He smiled as he whispers one final sentence before heading off to help with repairs.

"Trial run successful"

 **Trial run successful? That's what he's ending it on? Son of a bitch! Where's the creating the suit? The painstaking wait for Toothless to get a few scales off his butt? And the martial arts! Hasn't he got to that yet?! And why won't he just kiss Astrid already?! This is bullcrap! I will not stand for...**

 ***Whack!***

 **...I'm a fairy princess and I like to go sleepy time goodnight zzzzzz...**

 **Sigh finally something to shut him up! Hey lads and lasses sorry about wade, he can be a dick sometimes. Hopefully I can explain it more about the time skip in the next chapter but until then, laters.**


	13. Chapter 13- No rest for the wicked

**Hi guys Supersandman here again, sorry it took so long, I'm very unpredictable as you well know when it comes to writing, can be hard to write mind to paper, your head has it planned out but to word it can be a bitch.**

 _ **Yeah well bet you can't guess what I'm thinking of right now.**_

 ***Sigh* Let me guess, tacos, chimichangas and a Deapool/Spiderman shipping wade.**

 _ **Wh-what, how the blue monkey butt did know that?! Are you a mutant with physic powers? Nah can't be, where's your wheelchair and bald head...I can fix that!**_

 _ **BZZZZZZZ**_

 **Wade put down the hair clippers, bugger! Anyway enjoy the chapter!**

 **Chapter 13- No rest for the wicked**

No one could explain it.

For the last eight months the dragon raids have been less disastrous each time, even when the number of dragons attack.

Nobody knew what to make of it.

Was Odin answering their prayers?

Were the dragons simply getting bored and rather go somewhere else for food?

The last one seemed more questionable considering how many times the attacks occurred.

Only a few knew the answer to the change.

The first was Astrid, every raid she watched for the sky for signs of this stranger who seemed to arrive around the same time the raids happened. Each time they'd turn up the dragons seem to halt what they're doing and by the end of the raid most flew away from where they originally flew from.

The other was Gothi who saw the whole raid from atop of her tower, she always refused to head to the hall with the other elders, stating the dragon are too afraid to even try to attack her. No one dare question the shaman of the tribe, not even Stoick.

She also knew who the stranger was simply by how they flew around the skies.

On a Night Fury. Even for someone so old she can see the details far better in the sky than even the most keen-eyed, seasoned Viking.

Which brings us to the last one to know what's going on.

Hiccup whom has spent every raid as this mysterious stranger, flying around, trying to deter dragons from raiding thus reducing casualties on both sides, even if it meant physically jumping on their backs mid flight and going for their weak spots or a smack across the head to wake them up from their trance until they paid attention to know to head south towards his mothers sanctuary, to which most complied.

So far he was both happy and sad with the results.

Happy that he could do his part in bringing a little peace while getting some of the dragons to escape to safety.

Sad that the red death was getting more desperate with her raid and some dragons fearing the behemoths wrath that they still head back even though Hiccup knew what would happen if they went back empty clawed.

Knowing he knew he couldn't save everyone even if he wanted to, Hiccup and Toothless flew back towards the cove after stopping another raid, and it only seem to get tougher and tougher each time.

"Boy bud, she must be getting desperate now" he sighed while patting the agreeable Night Fury as they flew along the ever fading night sky that kept them invisible to the Vikings below.

All except one.

Every raid, Astrid had been looking throughout the night sky, watching for signs of this flying vigilante who is as black as the night, it confused her at first, even irritated her, they never show themselves, they never steal anything and they never miss.

From tales her parents told her as a child, it sounded more like the infamous Night Fury only for her to laugh it off when she realised that they were fire breathing dragons, and not human shaped.

But as time went on she caught a glimpse of something on the back of the dragon as they fly past any sort of light source.

Now she stands watch as they fly towards the forest, just like they do every raid.

It also make her think of Hiccup since he lived out in that direction, it worried her that he could be attacked by this flying monstrosity.

But as every time she worries, she wonders why she worries about him of all people?

And every time, she berated herself for feeling weak for anyone, especially Hiccup. Hoffersons weren't weak!

But she never had to let these feeling get to her as to her own relief, Hiccup always turned up an hour after the raids died down to lend a hand in the forge.

But every time she saw him, he would turn up either unscathed or sporting a few cuts of bruises.

This time as she wait near the forest opening, she spotted Hiccup limping towards her direction but he seemed unfazed by any pain he must be experiencing, what got to him more was the look of concern the female Hofferson was giving him.

"Hiccup? Are you okay?" Hiccup looked at her with a raised eyebrow at her sincere concern in her voice as she gestures to his limping.

Ever since he was banished from the village, he sees that Astrid, the girl that wouldn't give him the time of day, who found pleasure killing trees with her axe and thrives on becoming a shield maiden, change to someone with feelings.

He smiles at her as he answers her question.

"Yeah I'm fine Astrid, just tripped up on a loose root back in the forest" he lied as the real reason might give away who he is and that his injury was caused when a gronkle caught him off guard and ended up falling through a roof.

"A root?" Astrid questioned not believing his limping was caused by something like that, but before she could question him further, he started limping away from her toward the forge.

"Yeah, well Hiccup the useless, klutz by nature!" he replied sarcastically, hating himself for using the name most of the village gave him but if he can throw off suspension towards him, he'll sacrifice that.

"Anyway best head to the forge before Gobber pops a blood vessel from worry, see you later mi'lady" he waved before heading around the corner and out of sight as fast as his limping form could take him.

Astrid stood there for a few second before moving to follow him, but as she headed around the corner he went she was quite surprised.

He was gone!

This drove several questions going through her mind.

How come he turned up after the raid ended and not during?

If that dragon and it's rider were heading towards the forest how come they not encountered Hiccup?

How can someone who is limping one second disappear the next?

And did he just call her 'mi'lady'?

The last one actually made her blush before shaking her head, cursing herself for feeling like that as she decided that a few trees did her wrong in a previous life and wanted revenge as she headed towards the forest with her axe in toe.

Hiccup meanwhile breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Astrid walk away. He didn't want her to worry about him, touched as he was, he didn't need that on his concious if she got in the way because of him.

He walked out of hiding spot as soon as she was out of sight, years of being a target for bullies gave him a natural skill of hiding in small spaces that were presented to him and glad he wasn't rusty on that as he limped towards the forge to help Gobber with the post raid repairs.

 **Several hours later**

Hiccup finished his jobs in the forge which took all morning and even have time to head to Gothi's hut, well forced to go there by Gobber, seeing the boy limping all day and told him to go to elder to get it sorted. He was in there for over half an hour before he walked out of the elders hut with a bandage around his left foot and sporting a lump to the head, Gothi was non too happy with him for not paying attention in the sky.

Yes she knew it was Hiccup up there ever since the Night fury saliva came to her attention when Astrid handed it to her, she knew he befriended the offspring of lightening and death itself but kept it to herself, if it's the gods will this was to happen, then let it be.

After leaving the hut, Hiccup paused as to what he should do, go back to the cove and catch breakfast or into the great hall and grab a bit of something.

He knew he was allowed to go in there once in a while but knew a lot of the villagers were still unhappy that their Chief still allowed his son to still come into the village even though he was banished, even if Hiccup was proven innocent for the fire that caused his banishment.

Stuck in their old ways Hiccup always thought when remembering all about that.

He shrugged it off and decided to head back to the cove, no point in glaring eye to put off ones appetite.

He suddenly yawned, realising he'd been up most of the night, worked throughout the morning in a sweltering hot forge and his body screaming that he needed to sleep.

As he made his way through the village he is halted by a massive shadow followed by a booming voice.

"Hiccup!"

He looks up into the large bushy face of his father.

"Hi dad" he greeted tiredly which didn't go noticed by the chief.

"Where do you think your going?"

"back to the forest, I've done my work in the forge and wouldn't mind getting some rest" Hiccup replied back hoping Stoick would allow him.

Hiccup felt like the gods were just about taking the piss with him as usual as he watched his father shake his head.

"Nonsense! You come with me to the great hall, get some meat on your bones!" before Hiccup could protest, he's pushed along by the burly chief, feeling he had no choice.

Once inside the hall, he gestured to the table of food prepared out as he leaves Hiccup all alone to fend for himself.

'father of the year material right there' he thinks to himself sarcastically as he sighs before heading to the table to grab some food, knowing he'll never be able to leave unless he did.

As he walked by several tables full of Vikings, he knew he was being stared at, some friendly like the Hoffersons or Ingermans, but many not so friendly, such as Mildew, the Jorgensons or their associates.

Hiccup pretended not to see them as he carried on to gather what he can before finding himself an empty table and eat as fast as possible without confrontation.

"Hi Hiccup"

He wasn't lucky as he up at his large friend and gave him a tired looking smile.

"Hi Fishlegs" he replied back as the larger boy sat opposite his with a bit of concern in his voice.

"You look exhausted Hiccup, did you get any sleep?"

Hiccup sighed, he wanted to tell his friend that he was the reason the raids are less devastating than they used to be. He could have gone to sleep as soon as he landed back in the cove but, he couldn't let Gobber do all that work alone so while most went back to bed after the repairs to the raid had commenced, Hiccup carried on throughout the morning getting all the work done.

So instead he told half the truth to Fishlegs, mainly after the raid where he came into the village to help but explaining he'd been up all night working on something in his own forge, mainly his design on the jian and using various different metals, which was true, just not during most of the night.

Fishlegs nodded before he changed the topic of the conversation, talking about the different flowers there were and even some rocks he found on Berk which nearly put Hiccup to sleep.

Hiccup liked his friend but he knew the bigger boys main weapon is boring to death he was sure of it.

But before he could fall completely asleep, he's jolted awake by the sound of the great halls door forced open and slammed shut as he and the rest of the tribe look over to who was responsible for it.

They all watch as Horak the 'Pleasant' storms from one side of the hall to the other to come face to face with Stoick the the council who were discussing the recent dragon raid.

"No more Stoick! I can't handle it no more!" Horak shouts as he throws his helmet on the ground before stomping on it.

The chief looked confused as to his behaviour, what could possibly be driving any Viking so mad?

"What can't you take anymore Horak?" Stoick asked in the calmest voice he could muster, which wasn't saying much, knowing for many years of being the chief that, matching volumes won't resolve anything except a headache later on.

"I can't take looking after those beasts in the ring!" Horak blurted out, not even hesitating on his words as he carried on "every gods damned raid they act up for me! And no matter how many times I bang on the cages to shut them up, they only get worse!"

Hiccup merely rolled his eyes at this 'well duh! Of course they'll get worse if you agitate them!' he thinks to himself. He really doesn't like the idea of the dragons in the arena being treated like so, especially the young Nadder he 'rescued' from being killed brutally.

Stoick meanwhile was pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, this wasn't the first time someone quit to tend to the training dragons and was starting to run out of volunteers and even though he's the chief and could force someone to take on the task, he'd rather not abuse his position.

"Okay okay!" he sighed in defeat as he looked at Horak "you don't have to look after them now, I see who else can take up the job" he shouted the last part out hope for any one to step forward. Unfortunately, as he looked around however, he sighed again as not a single person steps forward to take the job.

'Viking bravery indeed' Stoick thought to himself which meant that he would have to do that along with his other duties as chief.

"I'll do it!"

Stoick and the rest of the tribe turn to where the voice came from only to see the small shape of Hiccup standing there with his hand up and a determined look on his face.

The chief couldn't believe what he heard as he looks at his son in confusion.

"Could you repeat that?"

Hiccup only rolled his eyes as he starts to stand on the table so everyone can see him.

"I'll take on the tasks of taking care of the dragons!"

Awkward silence hung in the air for a few seconds before the silence was a broken by a chorus of laughter coming from all around the hall, all except the Hoffersons, the Ingermans and Gobber who looked worryingly at the now annoyed young Haddock looked.

Stoick was the first to calm down from laughing as he addressed his son.

"Very funny Hiccup, best joke yet but seriously, any volente..."

"I wasn't joking!" Hiccup retorted back, cutting off the chief mid sentence as they start to argue in front of the whole tribe.

"Nonsense Hiccup! It needs the work of a big burly Viking to handle those beast"

"Yeah like that worked out very well before!"

"And what's that suppose to mean?!"

"That maybe you should try a different tactic!"

"Like what exactly? Giving them flowers?!"

Hiccup had to facepalm at his fathers reply as he jumped off the table, to his own displeasure of his injured leg and walked towards the the large bell they used to announce chieftains of different tribes during visits.

"From what I've seen is that banging on the cages with weapons right?"

Stoick raised his eyebrow at what Hiccup was getting at before replying.

"Yeah?"

Hiccup smirked as he picked up the hammer next to the bell before looking at the Hofferson and Ingerman tables before nodding.

The two families saw what he was going to do as well as Gobber and held their hands over their ears for the impact as Hiccup slams the hammer into the bell cause a loud ringing noise that reverberated around the hall and for everyone to hear.

Everyone suddenly covered their own ears from the painful noise until it subsided after a minute or two.

If Hiccup wasn't awake beforehand, he was now, lucky enough that because of the fast speeds him and Toothless do, he's used to pressure in his ears from the ever changing altitude and soon recovered quickly only to see and hear the now angry Stoick the vast.

"What in the blue fuck was that?!" he cursed as he stares at the boy in frustration hoping his shouting would do the trick.

"That is what a dragon hears all the time when you bang the cages!" he gestured to the bell "Now how many of you would cooperate after something like that?!"

He looks around the room, not a single person raised their hand as he smirked.

"So if this can happen to a human being then it'll happen to a dragon too"

"But they're mindless beasts!" Stoick retorted realising he'll need three blocks of ice tonight from all this.

"And that makes it worse!"

"And what makes you an expert in dragons all of a sudden useless?!"

Hiccup turned to see Snotlout standing in the centre, smirking thinking he got one over his smaller yet older cousin.

Hiccup however wasn't impressed as he retorted back.

"I've lived out by myself in the forest since I was ten! I've seen all sort out there, I use my brain and my eyes and I've come across dragons on the island after raids!" he looks around the room as a few gasped at his claim to have see dragons "they like quiet areas unlike the ones from the nest and I was able to walk past them calmly without startling them!"

Again it was a half truth, he actually approached them calmly before befriending them, he can see how much friendly they were when there was no raid going on.

Snotlout just stood there for a few seconds trying to figure out a comeback, but non came and just went back to sit with his mother as Hiccup turned his attention back to the chief, whom has sat back down and sighed in defeat once again.

Hiccup may have inherited his mothers features but he had a combination of both his parents stubbornness and Stoick knew this is one battle he'll not win.

"Fine! You get your wish! You can take care of those dragons! But!" he stares at Hiccup with a warning to it's meaning "if you get attacked then let it be on your head!"

Hiccup only stared for a few seconds both with relief and sadness in his heart, relief that Stoick agreed to his decision, which makes a change, but sad that what didn't change was Stoicks disappointment in him, and that sadly is what he was used to so simply shook it off as he walked towards the doors to head out.

"Thank you chief" he bowed his head as he opened only of the doors "I'll be back tonight"

Now Stoick was confused.

"Why tonight?!"

Hiccup turns back to him and smirks.

"I've been up all night, worked all morning in the forge and was about to head back to the forest before you dragged me here" he shrugged as he walked through the door and closing it behind him, leaving a very stunned tribe wondering what just happened.

Hiccup meanwhile made down the steps before heading through the village, he was starting to feel the lack of sleep catch up to him and even though he had a long walk to go with but he'd rather be in his own bed.

But that never was the case as he was about to make it to the forest opening, he started to feel a little dizzy and off balance.

He was about to collapse to the ground when someone grabbed him before that happened.

"Woah there Hiccup!" came a feminine voice that Hiccup somewhat recognised as he opened one tired eye to see who it belonged to.

"A-astrid?" he whispered tiredly as he watches the concern on her face.

She had followed him a few seconds after he left the hall, she admired his bravery to stand in front of the whole tribe to get his point across, completely different to the shy boy that once lived in the village, as she spotted him in the distance starting to sway on the spot, panic struck her and before she knew it, she was running towards him just in time to catch him.

She looked at his exhausted face knowing he'll never make it back to his home in the forest, so thought of something completely crazy but she didn't want to leave him alone, so she dragged him toward her house.

Once they reached her home, Astrid opened her door and brought him inside before closing it and taking him up the stairs towards her room.

Hiccup saw where they were heading and was about to protest before Astrid chimed in.

"Oh no mr 'I'm-okay' you'll never make it back to your in the state your in!"

Hiccup simply looked at her in wonder and was trying to figure out why she was being so nice, he wasn't worth it.

Before he knew it however, she had removed his boots, gathered some furs on the floor, making a makeshift bed before forcing him to lay down upon them. As soon as his head touched the pillow, his eyes started to feel heavy as sleep was starting to over power him.

'I must be really out of it after all that' he thought to himself as he started to drift away.

Astrid meanwhile was looking at his peaceful expression on his face as he slept away, she looked at him thinking how cute he looked.

'Wait, cute? I think Hiccup is cute?' she thought to herself as she sat on her bed looking down at the peaceful figure in her room before yawning herself.

'Maybe it's just the lack of sleep playing with my mind, yeah that's it' still trying to deny that she has feelings for him.

She pulled one set of furs over hiccup before putting one over herself before resting her head on the pillow.

But she couldn't help but wonder as she turned her head towards Hiccup once again, thinking if there was something there.

Shrugging before she did some crazy and so un-astrid like, she leaned over the bed and gave him a peck on the cheek before watching him unconsciously smile making her stomach jump as she turned over to let sleep take over her as one final thought came to mind.

'This is so confusing'

 **Much time later.**

She woke up after a much needed rest only to discover that she was the only one in her room, in fact the furs that Hiccup was sleeping were neatly folded and stacked back in the corner.

'how did he manage to leave so quietly' she thought to herself, knowing how alert she could be within a moments notice.

As Astrid looked around some more, she spotted a folded piece of paper on top of her bedside table, she grabbed it, unfolded and began to read it.

 _Astrid_

 _Thank you for letting me sleep in your room, I didn't think what would have happen if someone else from the village spotted me like that..._

She smiled as she was glad, no telling what someone like the Jorgensons would have done if they spotted him, she carried on reading.

… _.to be honest, you could have just dropped me off at the forge, Gobber has a back room where I used as a study when I wasn't at my dads..._

She smacked her head, not thinking about that at the time.

… _.but it was nice of you to think of me like that. Also not to sound too creepy but the way you sleep, it's like looking at a Valkyrie, your name does not do you justice, even if it mean divine beauty._

 _But I'll see myself out as I don't want your parents to freak out that I was in your room, you know, two teens of the opposite sex, sleeping in the same room and all, even it was an innocent gesture, I don't want to ruin your name with any lies that might occur._

 _I'll see you around mi'lady._

 _Your friend, I hope._

 _Hiccup x_

She reread the note over and over again, blushing at his words about her beauty and she smiled, she then looked at the last part about a friend.

Was she his friend? They used to be until her uncles incident with the Flightmare when she was five then she ignored him and concentrated on getting stronger.

At that point she felt ashamed, she stopped being his friend and yet even after all that still wanted to be her friend.

After everything he did for her, the axe, saving her brother and even offering her the honour of being heir, and all he ever wanted was her friendship.

And by the gods she wants to give him that.

 **Later on that _night,_ dragon arena.**

Hiccup stands by the large gates of the ring waiting for whoever it is to let him in.

To say he was nervous was an understatement, he only took the job because he felt sorry for the dragons.

"I see ya look nervous lad" Hiccup turns his head around slowly as he acknowledged the two limb Viking as Gobber hobbled down the ramp.

"We all have to face our fears Gobber, you taught me that remember?" Hiccup replied back as he smirked at his mentor.

"Aye lad that I did" Gobber laughed as he patted the boy on the back, but was worried for his safety as he looked seriously at Hiccup.

"Are ye sure about this Hiccup? There's no shame in backing away. As ye said even a full grown Viking can't do the job"

Hiccup looked at him for a few seconds and saw the worry in his eyes, this was how a father show be he always thought to himself.

His nervousness and fear were replaced with determination as he looked at Gobber with an equally serious face.

"I'm sure of it Gobber" patting the large man on the arm before standing in front of the gate waiting for it to open.

Gobber sighed knowing how stubborn headed his apprentice can be in anything, he hobbles over to the large crank that controls the large iron gates as they slowly start to rise, just enough for Hiccup to walk in before that slammed shut again.

Taking a deep breath he walks towards the middle of the ring where the buckets of fish and shovels are before speaking to himself.

"No turning back now"

 ** _Oww..._**

 **Told you to put down the hair clippers wade. Now you're decapitated.**

 _ **Yeah yeah, now could you throw me back to my body.**_

 **Ok but don't get a-head of yourself.**

 _ **Ha ha very funny**_


	14. Chapter 14- Secrets revealed

**Heyup lads and lasses supersandman here once again, sorry for the late publish but life is a bitch sometimes. Anyone that suffers from depression, anxiety or lack of self confidence can say.**

 _ **Is that why you haven't been to the gym in a while?**_

 ***sigh* yes wade that's one reason.**

 _ **Guessing the other is that you're too lazy to go.**_

 **Hey! I resent that!**

 _ **Whatevs homie**_

 **Sometimes I don't know why I put up with you wade.**

 _ **Because you watched my movie...thrice, at the cinema and fan-boying it over the sequel**_

 **Hope cable sticks his gun up your butt.**

 _ **Ooh kinky**_

 **Urgh! Anyway lets get on with the lang awaited chapter. Hopefully it'll make some sense.**

 _ **Bet ya a fiver that there's another cliffhanger**_ **You're on!**

 **Chapter 14-secrets** **revealed**

"No turning back" Hiccup repeated to himself once again, as he looked around the ring of the arena nervously.

Hiccup admitted he was nervous, not because of the dragons, far from it, he's interacted with dragons before in the wild with ease.

No he was nervous about these dragons because of this arena.

Looking around at all the faded scorch marks in all directions, the damaged chained dome and even the dried blood on the grounds whether human or dragon Hiccup didn't want to know.

This was a place any dragon no matter how tough they were would be scared, even Toothless.

He then turned towards the five occupied stone doors that held the training dragons.

From what Gobber told him before all this they contained one of each basic dragon found around Berk.

Gronkle, Nadder, Zippleback, Terror and finally the Nightmare.

Hiccup thought this through, the Nightmare would be the most difficult, their hot temper even in normal situations is bad, but a scared one, yikes!

Same can be said for the Zippleback except they use their gas as a sort of fog for both a warning and escape.

Gronkle may be built like a rock but when they're scared, they eat and that could just be as deadly.

The Terror even for it's size can still bite and most time won't let go.

Which left the Nadder, not called deadly for nothing, spineshots, sharp claws and a fire that can melt rock easily.

But Hiccup knew that this Nadder may recognise him as a non threat and the one that tried to save her.

He made his plan in his head as to handle this, but before he does follow through this who looks up at Gobber through the dome whose waiting for the boys instructions.

"Ready when ye are lad"

Taking a deep breath Hiccup begins the talk that might not work but has to try.

"Gobber, I want you to keep a promise and swear it on big Bertha"

The old blacksmith knew it must be serious if Hiccup is making him swear a promise on his favourite catapult, but knows the boy won't let it go until agreed.

He sighs and nods for Hiccup to carry, knowing he's not gonna like what's being said.

"No matter what happens in here, no matter how I handle things or the danger Gobber, don't interfere, don't shout and for the love of Thor, don't tell anyone else happens here, you got that?" he finishes waiting for the panic from his mentor.

And boy was he not disappointed.

"Wh-what?! Lad ye know what you're askin me?! Te let them beast have you without backup, protection or even a weapon?!"

But as Gobber looked back at the young man in the arena, he was shocked to see no fear, no regret, not even a hint of uncertainty.

He saw determination in Hiccups eyes, his body language showed confidence and the smirk upon the young man's face said it all as he replied to the two limbed Viking's outburst calmly with only two words.

"Trust me"

Gobber once again sighed, as usual Hiccups stubbornness will win this one, Gobber has known him all his life, he saw the boys handiwork and determination thousands of times and never ceases to amaze him, and all because of one thing.

Hiccup never gives up.

"Okay lad, I don' like it but I trust ye, so how ye want to start this? The Terror?" he asked, waiting for Hiccups answer.

The boy however shook his head as he looked at the stone doors again.

"The Nadder"

"Are ye sure lad?" Gobber was a more concerned that he'd pick that one dragon, no one had even got near it since it arrived.

But Hiccup simply nodded.

"It's the newest out of all the dragons so the less tamed"

Gobber was hesitant but remembered Hiccup to trust him, so shrugging as he pulled the lever to the Nadder cage and watched nervously for the outcome.

Hiccup meanwhile kept his own nerves calm as best he could, he knows what to expect from this.

As the doors fully open, he listens for the familiar noises he was expecting.

A click and a whistling sound.

He springs into action as he dodges the spines coming towards him.

He dodge another lot rolling out of the way to the left, then the right. Several times this happens all the while Hiccup keep focus, he knows what to do.

He's seen Nadders do this before, they like to test out their opponents before coming head to head with them.

Eventually the projectiles ceased and he waits as the Nadder walks out of her cages in full view of him.

He watches her body language, she's scared, the arena still holds the smell of death. Hiccup could understand her situation.

He wished she didn't have to be here but it was that or instant death.

No, he didn't like it, but he will get her out some way some how.

Hiccup gets back to focusing on the Nadder as she starts to look around nervously for the first sign of a weapon but quickly gets confused, there was non in sight. Just a small human standing there watching her.

She starts let curiosity get the better of her as she slowly approaches him, sniffing the air around her.

She smells the foul odour of something that hasn't bathed in over a year coming from outside the arena to see a two limbed human picking his ears with a metal claw attached to where his arm used to be.

To a dragon who prides herself on her beauty, she shudders before averting from that smell to another.

One slightly familiar.

Nature, clean, a familiar smell of soot and one that jogged her memory.

The scent of a Night fury.

She looks in the direction of the young human, a boy, one she saw just before capturing, one who stopped the big human alpha from killing her, granted it landed her in here and yes she was angry for a while, but she really couldn't blame the boy despite being human.

She kept him in her sight as he slowly approaches with the only thing in his hand is a fish from the nearby bucket.

Hiccup meanwhile was trying to keep calm, not easy when being eyed up by a fire breathing flying lizard that can also throw deadly spine at you at will, but as the two make it to the centre, he makes the crazy yet bold move of offering her the fish to show her he means no harm.

She sniffs the fish for anything that might be off about it before taking it in one gulp.

"Hey there girl" Hiccup gently says as he slowly moves along the Nadders scaled body all the way to the spiked up tail.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, although I doubt I could anyway from what everyone else has said about your fierce attitude" he chuckles while smoothing out the spines one by one all while hear the Nadder do a throaty laugh at what he said bringing a smile to his face.

'And the people call them mindless?'

After he was able to touch her scales, he got the bucket of clean water from the other side as well as the rest of the fish for her to eat while he proceeded to clean her down all the while complimenting her on her beauty knowing playing to her vanity will keep her happy.

"There we go girl, we can't have your beautiful colours to get now do we" this got him a purr from her as he finished cleaning her down before letting her have a fly around the arena to dry off and stretch her wings, all under the worried eyes of Gobber who couldn't believe his eyes as Hiccup handled the Nadder with ease before herding her back into her pen to which she cooperated, promising to be back the next night as well.

Once she was back in he looked up a slack-jawed Gobber staring at him.

Rolling his eyes, Hiccup then told him to release the Gronkle as he prepared his own buckets for this one.

Various rocks, particularly granite.

Again from studying dragons found Gronkles to be quite docile when not threatened and rather live on a diet of minerals instead of fish.

And once again the bulky dragon flies out of its cell ramming anything in its way.

Lucky enough Hiccup was prepared, he dodged out of the way from the oncoming attack but always stood calmly until the dragon wore itself out.

Gronkles are good for head on attacks and taking hits but constant offence on their part plays havoc on their stamina and this is where Hiccup knew when to carry on with his plan.

Dodging one ram after another that came his way, Hiccup watched as each time the Gronkle started slowing down.

Eventually, the bulky dragons tiny wings gave out as it fell with a thump on the flow, bringing up dust everywhere.

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief, he knew that a dragon is easier to handle once tired and luckily boulder classes such as these are no exception.

Hiccup takes one of the rocks from the bucket he brought and tossed it towards the exhausted dragon.

The Gronkle itself looked up to see the object chucked towards them and to who the sender is only to see a small human.

Curious just as the Nadder was as usually there would be a huge burly and very smelly human wielding a weapon that usually greeted them but now just an underfed human youngling with no weapon in sight.

'Maybe this is why the Nadder didn't sound as hostile towards the end' the Gronkle thought to themselves as Hiccup smiled.

"Go on there, I'm not gonna hurt you" he gestured to the rock on the ground and waited for the Gronkle to devour it before giving another one, careful not to overfeed them as Gronkle tended to gorge until the spewed lava and he didn't want Gobber to panic and give some mental lecture about dragons always going for the kill.

As the last rock was removed from bucket, the bulky dragon seemed more trusting towards Hiccup as he tossed the last one into the air letting the Gronkle fly up and catch it in their mouth as he walked over to the dragon and started rubbing the top of the bulbous head affectionately.

"There we are b..." Hiccup had to stop himself mid sentence as he was about to say boy, he forgot to check which gender this particular Gronkle was without the usual 'lift leg' method that most would have taken.

But he remembered once again about traits of dragon genders and their colourings and markings that gave them away.

For females their skin was less rough and bumpy as well as lighter scale commonly seen with most dragons.

Still, he was weary but decided to take the chance as he carried on his sentence.

"..girl" this made the Gronkle look at him smiling making Hiccup sigh with relief once again knowing he got the right gender before carrying on "I see you liked them rocks I got you" looking around as he said that to the ground littered with nothing but tiny pebbles from what was left.

Throughout the whole time with the Gronkle, Hiccup merely played with her, let her blow off steam being cooped up in her cell before it was time to put her back in, promising extra granite the next time which made the overgrown puppy very happy indeed.

The same scenario led with the Terrible Terror, wear them out, identify the gender, with males having slightly longer horns on their snouts, before trust earned, feeding, playing and finally once the small dragon was worn out, back into the cell.

The Zippleback was slightly harder to gain trust, being that with two heads and finding out which was which by their gender, the left head being the gas spewer and the right being the sparker as well as the colouring once again.

Hiccup only interacted with one Zippleback once, during one of his missions to stop the raids, he figured that both heads need to be interacted with, so with a fish in each hand he got both heads attention once they had exhausted themselves trying to blow half the arena up.

"shame they built it very tough" he thought to himself as he tossed both fish in the air at the same time, shame they never fully got to the heads but luckily they met halfway.

This went on for several times until all the fish was gone and left them satisfied and, just like the others, curious about the small boy who didn't seem threatening in any way and even knew how to interact with them.

As they were led back into their cell to rest off their meal, Hiccup realised the last one might be the most toughest.

The Monstrous Nightmare.

It's not like Hiccup hasn't handle them before in the wild but this one was highly bad tempered even for a Nightmare, he came up with the conclusion that being the most angriest dragon out of the five common types found around Berk that whoever looked after them before would have riled this one out out of the others.

Hiccup didn't dare open the cell up to feed this one, not yet anyway, so instead he tried to play on the one thing the dragon prided on the most.

Respect.

So for that just to best to give them their food and leave without interaction until they calm down.

He stood by with the bucket of fish read to slide into the little hatch designed for such purpose while he spoke hoping to gain some mutual understanding.

"Hey there, err not sure how to handle this while you angry, but saying that, I'd be angry too if I was trapped in here, not nice accommodations, and I'm rambling again" her usually rubbed the back of his neck when he was nervous and feeling the heat near the door was no exception, but he still stood firm, gulped and slid the fish through the hatch as he carried on talking.

"Look, I can't let you out this time, Gobber up there would have a heart attack if I did, but if you promise to stay calm the next time, I'll let you out for some fresh air, deal?"

Hiccup waited for the response as silence grew around followed by a huff and what was left of the bucket he slid through fired out of hatch.

That's all Hiccup needed to know as he said his thank you before heading toward the exit, sighing with a mix of relief and triumph at what he just did.

He earned four of the five dragons respect at least.

As he let it all sink in, Gobber came hobbling down gob-smacked at what he just witnessed.

"Lad, what did ye just d..."

"Promise not to say a word Gobber, this is between us" Hiccup soberly asked interrupting Gobber from finishing his sentence.

"But lad..." Gobber stopped himself as he saw the look in Hiccups eyes, they were serious.

"Okay lad" he sighed knowing that he owed the boy for all he's been through "but ye got te tell me how ye managed it"

Hiccup smiled before replying with a shrug.

"I study my environment Gobber, the wild dragons and how they interact, that's how I knew"

"Ye a crazy lad Hiccup, stubborn and crazy" Gobber finished off patting Hiccups shoulders as he waved him Goodnight as they went to their homes.

Gobber used to worry about Hiccup at first going through the forest alone but seeing how he managed it with no problems made the old blacksmith proud at how far he'd come from where this whole banishment started.

He also realised that even if he did tell people, they wouldn't believe him, who, besides a select few, would believe that Hiccup not only survived feeding the dragons but also keeping them calm.

No one, except a certain blond shield-maiden who had not only witnessed the whole scenario but at this very moment following Hiccup through the forest towards the cove, she wanted to know more.

She kept to the shadows as he went along his travel home, making sure he didn't know she was there.

Astrid wanted to know more about Hiccups tactics after watching him with the dragons in the arena, it was very odd to her, nothing hostile upon his part and even the dragons seemed calmer around him.

"But why? How?" was what she kept asking herself. She had watched these same beasts act so aggressive when she saw others feeding them, and these were large Vikings armed to the teeth yet here was the most un-Viking person ever with no weapon turn these giant fire-breathing lizards into overgrown puppies.

She only went tonight because she was scared for Hiccup, to which she wondered why she was scared once again for him.

But now here she was, sneaking behind the said boy as he casually walked through the dense forest at night without care what was lurking around them.

Hiccup meanwhile was happy, he had earned their trust, something he thought, in all honesty, would take a couple of tries to do and with him more worse for wear.

Guess when you're friends with a NightFury, the most fierce dragon around, then anything's easy.

Speaking of which as he made his way through the gap leading to the cove, Toothless is sat up, happy to see his human brother made it back in one piece. Of course he knew that considering he was watching Hiccup with pride handle the dragons in the arena.

Hiccup, upon seeing him, smiled as he walked towards Toothless in an embrace, no matter how bad things got he could always rely on his ebony scaled friend to cheer him up.

"Hey there bud" he cheerfully greeted, scratching behind the dragons ears, rewarding him with a purr as Toothless leaned into the scratch until he knocked over his human, to whom started to laugh from the NightFurys antics.

"Boy bud I have got so much to tell about tonight" and from there he reminisced how he handled each dragon and their reaction afterwards, all the while Astrid was watching in shock at what she was seeing.

A dragon as black as night and a body what look liked it was designed for speed and stealth, she came up with the conclusion that this was a NightFury, the same one that recently has been turning up to raids, disrupting the dragons.

As she watched their friendly interaction, she started putting things together like a puzzle, the reason why Hiccup was so tired even though he said it's because of smithing all night long but couldn't smell the familiar scent of metal and forge smoke upon him, not like she took in his scent before. The way he turned up just after it all ended, again he had an excuse of not wanting to interfere, but if she recalled, that never stopped him before. The injuries he sustained like for example the sprained ankle, now that she recalled, she saw that rider fall through one of the house roofs after falling, that must have resulted in some sort of injury, and yet looking how he's running about in the arena and now, it's like he never had it.

"I gotta say bud..." he pulled off his left boot showing the bandaged ankle and yet from what she can see, no swelling. She listened on to what he had to say next that made her think more.

"...good thing NightFury saliva is a fast healer otherwise I'd have never done all that dodging that was needed" the said NightFury grumbled and snorted making Hiccup roll his eyes knowing what he was trying to interpret.

"Yeah yeah I know, watch around me at all times, I got it, that Gronkle that came out of nowhere, good thing I had a house to break my fall, although I don't thing silent Sven will be too pleased"

"A Gronkle that knocked that rider off? And the house the rider fell through was Svens?" Astrid whispered to herself, taking all the information in before she came to the conclusion upon the riders identity.

Hiccup.

With all this new findings and discovery about him, she wondered what to do now.

The honourable thing would be to tell the chief what she found out, after all dragons are Vikings mortal enemies for the last three hundred years and always go for the kill, siding with them is crazy, stupid and an act of treason.

On the other hand, her logical side telling her that if they're mindless killing machine then how come they didn't kill Hiccup? Surely he would be easy pickings despite his dodging skills.

And finally her heart telling her that Hiccup has suffered far too much for his young age, losing his mother, his father barely knew he existed and his fellow villagers treating him like dirt and not the chiefs son like they should.

If she was being honest with herself, watching Hiccup interact with the most fierce dragon ever to be known by Viking kind in such a playful manner was kind of cute.

She decided right there and then that she will keep Hiccups secret but she still wanted to confront him about it all, she wanted to gain his trust and their friendship back.

Smiling as she left towards the village, she was unaware that Toothless knew she was there, watching the whole time, he felt her heartbeat a mile away, but he didn't act upon it.

Had it been anyone else, apart from the rambling fat human boy or the big smelly two limbed man, he wouldn't have thought twice about grabbing them, throwing them upon a sea-stack and leaving them there.

But this human girl he smelt on Hiccup a few times and even felt his heart race when he was watching him from a nearby tree while he was in the human village.

He came too the conclusion this was Hiccups mate and didn't want to harm her without upsetting his brother.

After she left and Hiccup was sound asleep all Toothless thought on what him and Hiccup was trying to do and wondered one thing.

'Can we achieve peace?'

 **Haha. pay up wade.**

 _ **I hate you.**_

 **If you did then why do you stick around?**

 _ **Well it's because...and then there's...but you know, ah shut up!**_


	15. Chapter 15- Trust in me

**Hi lads and lasses supersandman back again, thank you for you patience and thank you too for not bombarding my review section asking if I've abandoned the story, with the way my mind goes and trying to have a social life, it can be a bitch. But here we are and hopefully this one does me justice.**

 _ **I'm Batman!**_

 **Wade I said justice! Not Justice League! Honestly ever since your sequel, you've been more annoying than usual.**

 _ **But it was gooooood!**_

 **You killed your x-force team**

 _ **Nah ah! I brought Peter back to life!**_

 **And the rest?**

 _ **Collateral damage**_

 **Sigh whatever, let's just get on and give the readers what they want.**

 _ **Oh no sandman, too young for that.**_

 **I meant the chapters you perverted walking sex toy!** __

 ** _Language!_**

 **English!** __

 _ **... touche**_

 **Anyway lets get with it.**

 **Chapter 15-Trust in me**

It had been over two years since Hiccup went on his crusade to stop the war between the Vikings and dragons without there being bloodshed on either side and by now Hiccup was getting frustrated as he stands at the top of the hill overlooking yet another raid along with his NightFury friend.

"She's getting very desperate now bud" he sighs patting Toothless on the head earning a purr. In a way this small gesture seems to calm them down as Hiccup pulls his face mask over, ready to begin another assault.

"I'm too old for this shit" Hiccup sighs as he jumps on the back of Toothless to whom started laughing at the boy for his saying as he takes off into the night sky, all too aware that someone below them is watching their every move.

Ever since Astrid discovered Hiccups big secret, she has been watching them every raid, amazed and worried at the same time.

Amazed at the way they synced their movements in the sky even at fast speeds they travelled and even while tackling dragons in the sky and Vikings on the ground, harming neither.

But that too also worried her, one slight mistake and Hiccup could fall to his death if his dragon doesn't get there on time and the other thing was that both sides seem to always attack him when he tries to stop them.

The worst was when he encountered his father.

When she watched the conflict between father and son, most of them, including herself, but was shocked when Hiccups strange looking sword actually sliced through Stoicks axe with ease, taking advantage of the frozen state, Hiccup got away and the chief being in a mood for over a week until his axe was fixed by Hiccup.

'Oh the irony' Astrid thought at the time.

Since that night in the cove, she come to admire the boy even more than usual, she saw more than what others did.

And it wasn't the last time she saw him in the cove since that night, she usually went out on a 'midnight training session' whereby she would watch the interaction between Hiccup and his pet dragon, how he seemed oblivious to her presence even as he trained with that same sword that took down his father axe, she noticed that it looked shiny, like polished silver, and even if Hiccup has gotten stronger since being exiled to the forest he still couldn't match decades of pure strength that gave a meaning to Stoicks title 'the vast' meaning that the blade was lighter than it should be, thus should be little more than an ornament.

And yet despite all that, it wasn't.

All this time she wondered what metal could do that not only her, but the whole of Berk knew about but Hiccup did.

For the boy in question, that answer came about six months ago by accident.

 ** _Flashback_**

 _Hiccup was doing his regular night time feeding in the arena._

 _It had been over a year since doing this and each time gained the trust of all the dragons in there, including the Nightmare, much to Gobbers surprise seeing this all the time and yet noticing a change during the raids._

 _They still didn't trust anyone else, just Hiccup, he seems to have a way with the beasts as Gobber usually put it._

 _They even chirp to him like he can understand them, which Gobber knew was impossible._

 _Unbeknownst to him Hiccup actually can._

 _It took quite a while, but with the help of his mother, Toothless and even the Bewilderbeast himself, he was able to understand what they were saying to a degree but over time, learnt on his own to increase his dialect._

 _After feeding the Nadder and moved onto the Gronkle, he decided to treat her to some rocks he found on one of the nearby beaches. Mainly limestone, sandstone and some iron ore Hiccup found on the way._

 _He thought to give her a verity as she might be getting bored with just eating granite all the time and since ore is a mineral, why not? 'learn on the job' as Gobber always say._

 _At first all seemed fine, she took all of them with delight, mixing from one to another, until she stopped eating and started making gurgling noises._

 _Hiccup rushed to her as she fell and laid on her side as the gurgling continued, all the while, Gobber was watching with curiosity._

" _Come on girl, what's wrong? Are you in pain?" Hiccup said in a panic only realising a second later how stupid that sounded when of course she was in pain._

" _Reminds me of when a yak eats too much lad" Hiccup nearly jumped at seeing Gobber stood behind him and wondered how in Midgard did he get down here so fast and so quiet._

 _Gobber meanwhile was watching closely at the Gronkle as the gurgling continued before he went into his pocket and produced a feather, to which he handed to a confused Hiccup._

" _Yer might want te give that wee beast a tickle on the tummy with that and stand well back"_

 _Hiccup, still confused from all this, complied to Gobbers orders as he started tickling the Gronkles stomach before backing away just in time as she started to spew lava everywhere._

 _In quite a huge amount actually and a very weird shade of colour from regular lava, something neither failed to noticed as Gobber took a closer look before shrugging and heading out the gates only emerge back a few minutes later carrying several stone buckets causing Hiccup to look at him in confusion._

" _Well why waste an opportunity fer a bit of smithing fun aye laddie?" it took a few seconds for Hiccup to realise what Gobber was going on about until he remembered about his ways, particularly to something molten._

 _Pound it while it's hot._

 _So while Gobber took several buckets back to the forge, Hiccup carried on with the nightly feeds._

 _For the rest of the night nothing new particularly happened in the arena after that, it was only until Hiccup finished up and left that he'd check up on what Gobber got from the strange coloured Gronkle lava._

 _Usually it just cooled back into solid rock but for some reason Hiccup thought this time might not be the case._

 _And boy was he right as he entered the forge to see an excited Gobber jumping up and down holding what looks like a very shiny sword as he finally notices his young apprentice enter looking dumbfounded._

" _Hiccup! Do ye know what this is?!"_

" _Hmm, well my blacksmithing is still being tested but I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say a sword?" he replied sarcastically._

" _Yer yer ya smartarse, but it's not just any sword, I made it out of that strange gronkle lava, here" he fished by tossing the sword to Hiccup, who actually caught it with ease, despite years of clumsiness. But what amazed him more was weight of it, it was very light, very shiny too._

" _Hmm, looks nice Gobber, but being this light, would do well in battle"_

 _Gobber knew he would say that as next thing Hiccup knew, the old blacksmith was holding a broadsword in his hands as he gestured for Hiccup to take a swing at it._

 _Shrugging, Hiccup took up a stance as he read in the book his mother gave him and swung the new sword at the one Gobber was holding._

 _At first the young teen didn't think anything would happen until he was left slack-jawed at the sword in Gobbers hand._

 _Or what was left of it as all was left was a clean cut through the blade where he sliced and the hilt._

" _Wh-what? You made this out of Gronkle lava?"_

" _I thought of calling it Gronkle iron myself, sounds catchy" Gobber suggested as he put what was left of the sword back onto the workbench making Hiccup wonder something else._

" _Err Gobber, who's sword was that?"_

" _Snotlouts" he simply put as both stood there for a few seconds before bursting out laughing._

 _It took quite a few minutes to calm down and wipe the tears from their eyes before Hiccup soberly looked at Gobber as he spoke._

" _Gobber, we need to keep this between you and me"_

 _Gobber meanwhile looked confused at what Hiccup suggested but was stopped from replying as Hiccup carried on._

" _Hear me out if this gets into the wrong hands and we know which ones I mean" Gobber nodded understanding who Hiccup meant "then they could do far worse with these weapons than just defence, they could sell them to traders that might use them to sell to our enemies or worse, use them against us. So until we can know who to trust, let us be the ones to know about this"_

 _Gobber thought long and hard about this, could he keep the secret from Berk and his best friend slash chief or betray Hiccup. It was a no-brainer for him, after what his tribe did to a young boy throughout his life and even neglected by his own father, he didn't want to lose Hiccups trust, so sighed in agreement._

" _Okay lad, we'll play it yer way, but someday we have te tell them"_

 _Hiccup smiled as he picked up the last bucket of molten Gronkle iron to take back with him to the cove._

" _When they can learn to change for the better" he looked back at his father figure while holding the bucket in both his gloved hands "You mind if I take this? I want to experiment with something"_

 _Gobber raised an eyebrow before shrugging._

" _Sure lad bu' what ye got in mind?"_

 _Hiccup simply smiled again before walk through the entranceway of the forge._

" _Something I've been working on for a long time"_

 _ **End flashback**_

With a little work and a lot of fire power from Toothless, Hiccup made what he want using an alternate material.

A jian made of Gronkle iron instead of bronze.

Now that he had his weapon of choice, he spent ages practising with it, getting his balance right for both offence and defence as stated in the book.

Testing it out by cutting his dads axe in half felt like a big achievement but it also meant people will start to get suspicious that he's absent most of the raids, so once in a while stayed out of battle but told Toothless what to do as they always did every raid and every time they had to separate during raids, the Night fury always said the same thing.

" _Are you sure about brother?"_

Hiccup always smiled knowing he can finally understand his scaly companion and even more that he calls him 'brother'.

"I'm sure bud, the less they know that it's me, the less chance we have to run away and I don't fancy having to rebuild all over again"

Toothless rolled his eyes and mumble about humans and their trinkets but he didn't mean it, in truth he enjoyed watching his human make some weird and wonderful inventions and a good laugh when they blew up.

So once every four or so raids, Hiccup would remain in the village as Toothless took up the raid, freeing most of the dragons and distraction the Vikings. Never killing but never missing his mark.

It was on one particular raid that would turn out differently to the others.

 **(AN: now we've come to the start of the first movie)**

Panning out to the island of Berk as see what has to offer.

For this is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. The village. In a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. They've got hunting, fishing, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. Most places have mice or mosquitoes. They have...

"Dragon" Hiccup stated with a dull tone as he ducked from a Monstrous Nightmare blast, time spent in the arena with the other Nightmare helped with his timing as he walked along on his way to the forge, dodging dragon attacks and running Vikings with their 'charming' way of greeting someone a good morning by yelling it at you.

He was about halfway to the forge when he was grabbed by none other than Stoick.

"What are ye doing out here?! What's he doing out here?!" Hiccup simply rolled his eyes at his father bluntness.

"Seriously?! I'm on my way to the forge, will you put me down this is embarrassing!"

Stoick sighed heavily, tension between the two was still high since that day in the hall, neither side willing to make amends.

"Get there and stay there!" as he put Hiccup down before resuming barking orders and checking the sky as he asked the nearest Viking on what they had.

"Gronkles, Nadders, Zipplebacks and Nightmares" the replied back stating just the regular ones as Stoick nodded.

"Any sign of that infernal Night Fury or it's demon spawned rider?" he asked, still ticked off at what the masked rider did to his axe. Sure it was fixed by Gobber, well that's what he thinks, but he was still pissed about it.

"Not yet chief"

"Good let's hope they don't show up this time"

They ran to face another battle down near the docks as Hiccup simply rolled his eyes at how oblivious his father was while he finally got to the forge to see Gobber hard at work with repairs already.

"Ah so nice of ye to join the party, thought ye be carried off?"

"Who me? Nah come on Gobber, I'm too muscular for their taste" Hiccup flexed his arm mockingly "They wouldn't know what to do with all this"

"They need toothpicks don't they?" he said jokingly as Hiccup rolled his eyes and smiled as he starts work on repairs.

Every time a raid happens and Hiccups in the forge, they always tease each other, Hiccup can feel himself around the old blacksmith.

But still Hiccup thinks of a way to stop the war entirely as he looks out the window after dealing with the pile of broken weapons.

What the village see is entirely different to what he sees.

A Nadder to the village would get you recognised, to him a beautiful coloured dragon who takes great pride in vanity and loves chicken.

A Gronkle would guarantee his a girlfriend, to him however he sees a dragon, hard on the outside but soft and big hearted on the inside.

Zippleback two heads, exotic and instant respect for taking one of those down. Hiccup however, finds the mystery of the two heads controlling one body fascinating and found they love to play.

Nightmares are the ones the top warriors go for and if recalled by Gobber is the final test in dragon training, to become one of them. Hiccup only scoffed at that, become one of the murderers? Nightmares only want respect, show them that and you have no problem.

And then of course there's the dragon that no one has seen or even got near to, one that makes Hiccup smile as one of the catapults is taken out, with no casualties thank the gods.

"Night fury!"

"Get down!"

Yes the Night fury, never seen, never takes and never misses.

'Good work bud' Hiccup thinks as he watches Toothless take on a few Nadders and shooing them in the direction of his mothers sanctuary.

A nearby explosion takes his eyes off the sky as one of the houses catches fire and watches as the fire fighters, consisting of his fellow teens, attempt to put it out.

Although in truth, he was watching more of Astrid than the others.

At a young age her beauty always shone, but as she reached her teen years, she started to get even more beautiful than before.

He was so transfixed on her he didn't notice Gobber grab him by his vest and directed him back to his growing pile.

"Come on lad, no time fer day dreaming, I know ye want te leave your mark" Hiccup only rolled his eyes in frustration as he carried on with his work.

"Trust me Gobber I've left plenty, and you know it" frustration lacing his voice as he picked up a hammer "I can't lift a hammer!" he tosses it behind him as he picks up a battleaxe "I can't swing an axe!" he throws it into a nearby post before picking up a set of bolas "I can't even fucking throw one of these!" he shouts as he throws it out the nearby window knocking out a passer-by.

Gobber just watch in surprise as he watches who he always thought as his son just get angry, he should have known the 'leaving your mark' saying would trigger bad memories.

"I've heard that from all the adult here throughout my life! But I don't give a flying Gronkles arse! The day I chose to prove myself will be upon my own strengths and not what others expect of me!" and with that carried on working with repairs.

Gobber was about to say something when several shouts caught his attention, looking out of the window he sees the attacks getting worse and requires all hands to help as he dis-attaches his smithing hammer and attaches his war axe appendage to his stumped arm.

"Look like they need me out there Hiccup, so I want ye to stay put, ah stay"

Hiccup gave Gobber a dead-panned look as to say 'really?' but shrugged it off as he didn't fancy going out there anyway, he just wanted to get the weapons done, wait for the raid to finish and head home.

It was never as simple as that as he started hear the sound of what appear to be a kid.

"Excuse me, excuse me out of the way!"

Hiccup stops what he's doing as he looks outside the window to see who it was.

It was Gustav Larson, one of the young kids who for some reason has taken Snotlout as a role-model if he recalled correctly, but what he was surprised the most was what he was pushing towards one of the cliff edges.

To others it looked like a normal cart, but to Hiccup, it was...

"The mangler!" Hiccup whispered to himself, one of his inventions he created back in his younger days before learning about dragons.

"But how? I destroyed all those things, unless..." but he had no time to contemplate his theory as Gustav was already at the cliff edge and had the mangler already set up.

Hiccup rushed out of the forge, avoiding everyone in his way as he saw what the young Larson was aiming for.

"Toothless!" he knew that thing could cause damage if positioned correctly.

He was close enough to see Toothless in the sight of the mangler so did the only thing he knew so well.

He roared with all he had, catching the Night furys attention, just enough to position himself out of danger.

Gustav fired the bola, hoping to hit its mark, unfortunately for him, it didn't as Toothless thought it be a good idea to lay low just in case of another launch.

Gustav however was none too happy that he didn't hit his target, swearing and cursing the mangler.

"Urgh! I hope no one saw that"

Unbeknownst to him that he was watched, by a monstrous Nightmare as it destroyed the mangler with one foot before chasing Gustav.

Hiccup saw this happen and sighed as he had to go and help as he sped along grabbing the attention of the Nightmare, dodging blast after blast and several swipes with the claws.

To Hiccup he got this under control, but to others, one being his father, saw this Hiccup getting himself into trouble as he runs up the hill to intercept the dragon.

Hiccup was doing his best to wear the Nightmare out, which would have gone well if Gustav hadn't decided to piss the dragon off even more by throwing a rock at it before hiding behind one of the main torches, to which the stoker class reptile started to set fire to in order to get to him.

Hiccup rushed towards the nightmare, grabbing it's horns and making it face him instead.

He was about to subdue it until his father jumped in, hammer and shield at the ready, knocking into the dragon as it tried to breathe fire once again but forgot about its limit.

"Yer all out dragon!" as he dropped his weapons and started to fight it with his fists. The dragon got a lucky shot flinging Stoick into a nearby bush and would have gone one the attack if Hiccup hadn't intervened hand out at the ready, no weapon in sight.

"Hey there big guy, I what's wrong, you don't have to do this" he said calmly as the dragon got curious and it's flame died down as Hiccup put his palm on the dragons snout and smiled.

"Listen big guy, head south, your king awaits you" the Nightmare seemed to understand as it roared a 'thank you' before flying off just as Stoick got himself out of the bush and was oblivious to what just happened, but the look of disappointment on his face spoke volumes, especially when the tower fell and rolled down the hill, freeing several captured dragons and losing a vast amount of stored food.

Hiccup knew it wasn't his fault but knew everyone used him as an escape goat so played along with it.

"Sorry dad"

As the dragons fly away, the whole village come towards them to see their chief scowling at his son, they can't help but watch for the entertainment of someone else's humiliation.

"Look dad I don't know what happened but I can expl..."

"Enough Hiccup!" Stoick shouted cutting off his son as he started to talk "no need for explanations as this happens every time you're outside during a raid!" Hiccup found this to be unfair as it's been over four years since he was out like this but he couldn't protest as his father carried on "every time you step out the house, disaster follows! Winter is almost upon us and I have a whole village to feed!"

Hiccup looked around in disbelief "your kidding me right? To be fair the village could do with less feeding"

This earned mumbles from most of the tribe, some even trying to hide in their guts and, to what Hiccup caught in amusement, Astrid trying stifle her laughter.

Stoick however as not amused as he carried on.

"This isn't funny Hiccup! Why can't you follow the simplest of rules?!"

Now it was Hiccups turn to be unamused.

"Well what's the point when no matter what I do, you'll never be happy with it!" this caught his father off guard for a few second before sighing, he was about to tell Gobber to take him back to the forest when Hiccup beat him to it.

"I'm out of here! No point in arguing with a rock!" sighing as he walked past the teens the twins and Snotlout decided to tease him about the whole thing.

"I've never messed up that badly"

"That helped out a lot"

Hiccup decided to stop right in front of his cousin before suddenly grabbing him by the scruff of his jacket, pulling him towards him only raising his voice so the young Jorgenson could hear.

"Listen here you shit turd! If you ever steal one of my inventions ever again, I will personally make sure you're the last of your family blood line, you got it?!"

"D-don't make against me usel..."

"Do I make myself clear?!"

Snotlout saw his cousins eyes, he swore his pupils turned to fire and felt scared as he quickly nodded as Hiccup let go of him before walking away towards the forest.

Stoick however was irate, out of all the people in the tribe, no one ever dismissed themselves without declaring it by him. He was about to tell Hiccup to stop when Gobber stopped him with his hook appendage shaking his head.

"Demanding him te come back after you berated him will not earn ye his trust Stoick"

"Gobber but he..." Stoick was cut off from his rant as Gobber carried on.

"...acted how you would have reacted if someone publicly humiliated you"

The vast chief didn't know what to say to that, yes he would act exactly like that if he was humiliated.

But as the Haddock stubbornness prevents him from accepting his wrong he simply grunted orders for clean up to the village followed by a meeting in the great hall after.

Gobber meanwhile sighed as he hobbled after Hiccup who had taken to grunting and yelling after all that.

'runs in the family' was all that came to Gobbers mind.

Hiccup stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around, instead opted to lowering his head and sighed.

"I'm not going back to apologise Gobber, I'd rather chop off my own foot"

"Ehh I'll make ye a good wooden one te replace it" Gobber replied jokingly knowing even if Hiccup was pissed off he couldn't resist a cheesy comeback.

And judging from the small smile upon the boys face, it seemed to have worked for the most part but he was still pissed.

"He never listens"

"Runs in the family"

"He's always got that disappointed look upon his face like someone skimped out on his lunch" Hiccup then proceeded to puff out his chest as he did the best impression of his father.

"Excuse me bar keep, I'm afraid ye brought me the wrong offspring, I ordered one with beefy arms, guts and glory on the side, this here is a talking fishbone" Hiccup sighed sadly as he carried on "You'd have thought that after all these years of fending for myself he would give me a little respect" he didn't move from his spot, even after Gobber put his hand upon his shoulder.

"Look Hiccup, ye dad does love ye, but he has problems expressing it. It was always ye mom that brought out his emotional side"

Hiccup nodded as he understood, Valka told many stories upon how his father was different around others but not around her and it made him wonder if since he looked like her mostly that it reminded him of his loss.

"I understand Gobber, but mom wouldn't want him to neglect me over the loss of her"

'That and she threaten to kick his teeth in if he didn't change' he thought to himself as he smiled at the only active father figure he had.

"Thanks Gobber for checking to see if I was alright" he gave the old blacksmith a hug before running off into the forest as Gobber sighed before heading off to the hall for the meeting.

In a nearby bush however, Astrid heard and saw the whole thing, she felt for Hiccup, he seemed to never get a break no matter what.

She always wonder what would have happened if Hiccup was never kicked out of the village in the first place, would she have seen this side of him? She couldn't think of an answer for that but as she usually did she followed him into the forest, always sneaking behind as not to get caught.

She kept following on as he entered a clearing when he met up with the ebony dragon once again as she laid low in a nearby bush as she watched the interaction as usual.

"Hey there bud, nice flying out there hope that bola didn't cause to much damage" he said as he inspected the dragon all over while Toothless, to what Astrid could hear, roaring, yipping and barking in different tones line he was communicating, which had to be impossible for Hiccup to understand.

"Yeah, I know bud, it looks like something I invented, technically it is , but I was sure I destroyed all my dragon killing plans, still no damage done so there's a plus"

Astrid watch closely as the dragon seemed to roll its eyes before doing it's strange noises once again.

"Yeah bud, my dad pissed me off once again, all I did was try to save that kid from himself but noo, he had to piss that Nightmare off even more and I get the blame! I dn't know why they title me 'useless' should be more like Hiccup the Blamed"

This earned a throaty laugh from the dragon and a deadpan look from Hiccup.

"I'm glad I can amuse you, you useless reptile"

As Toothless finally calmed down, he started to pick up a second scent, one that was familiar as he started to bark and roar once again.

"Oh really?" unbeknownst to Astrid that Toothless spotted her easily as well as her scent gave her away.

Hiccup however had an idea as he picked up a large branch and tossed it toward Toothless as he seemed to be going into a nearby bush.

"Well you have fun drawing for a few minutes bud while I go to relieve myself" and with that it was only her and the Night Fury, whom at this point of time had the branch in it's mouth making marks in the ground.

If she didn't know any better, she could swear the dragon was drawing.

"That's impossible right? Dragons can't draw or interaction socially?"

"You'd be very surprised what there is to know about dragons" came a voice from behind her.

"Yeah but still..." she stopped mid sentence as she spun around only to see Hiccup standing right in front of her, arms folded with a very amused look on his face.

"Hi-hiccup! What in the nine realms you think you're doing sneaking up on a warrior like that?!"

Hiccup said nothing as she carried on.

"I-I mean I was minding my own business err..." she looked around and saw some flowers on the ground "picking flower! For err... err... my mom! Who...err...err was feeling down so I might cheer her up!"

Hiccup looked down at flowers Astrid was picking at and only laughed, irritating Astrid as she put her hand on her hips.

"And what's so funny Haddock!" Hiccup picked up the flower Astrid had indicated and shook his head.

"For one thing milady, I know that your mothers favourite plant is yellow and red tulips and they were the flowers your father gave to her when they first courted, not white daisies" he gestured to the flower in question and he swore heard her mutter 'crap' as he carried on.

"And second, we both know you're a bad liar Astrid" he stood and looked at her in the eyes which was all he needed as proof as he carried on.

"But I do know that you've been watching me for a long while" she was about to ask how before he interrupted her "Toothless told me the first time"

Astrids eyes widened that he knew she was watching him all this time and didn't say a word.

"Wh-why didn't you say anything then?!" Hiccup shrugged at her questioning but replied anyway.

"I was hoping that you'd ask me yourself about my interaction with the dragons, it was obvious you didn't rat me out where most would have, so now it's my turn to question you, why didn't you?"

She was taken aback but he was right.

Why didn't she? She could have told Stoick but then she realised that maybe Hiccup was doing something no one had ever done, they had been fight an ongoing war for over three centuries with either side winning and along comes Hiccup with his plan to lessen the raids on top of his Night Fury and suddenly a chance at the war ending seemed possible.

But was that her real reason?

She didn't know, all she knew was that she had been fighting over her thoughts for a good few years.

"I-I don't know Hiccup. I really don't, I guessed it felt like the right thing to do" Hiccup watched her struggle as she thought for the right words and can hear the sincerity in her voice.

He smiled as he gently reached for her hand and walked her forward towards the clearing where Toothless was admiring his latest masterpiece until he saw Hiccup bring along the female human he had been smelling quite a few times.

"Astrid saw where Hiccup was taking her and she wanted to run, she was scared, that this was unnatural.

And yet with Hiccup guiding her she didn't want to run but let him do all the work.

Somehow she trusted him.

"Astrid, this is Toothless, Toothless, this Astrid" both looked at each other for a while, curious as to what the other was thinking, only Hiccup was watching both of them, smiling.

"Astrid, do you trust me?" without even looking at him, she nodded as he carried on "okay follow what I say, I want you to turn your head away and hold you arm out with your palm facing forward"

She looked at him as to know what he had planned but he simply nodded as she took a deep breath, looked away and held her arm out waiting for some sort of pain to happen.

What she didn't expect was something warm on her palm, and a bit scaly. She opened her eyes in surprise to see Toothless' snout pressed against the palm of her hand.

It was something entirely different, not bad different, but just different.

But she should be hating being close to a dragon like this, in truth she should have been ripped to shreds, including since this is a Night Fury.

But she wasn't, she was touching the unholy offspring of lightening and death itself, right on the snout, no hint of violence, in fact she can feel the vibrations of him purring.

Suddenly it was all too much for her to take in as she faints right there on the spot, lucky enough Hiccup was there to grab her before she fell as both rider and dragon looked at each other.

"Well I wasn't expecting that"


End file.
